The Minute Man
by LittlePrettyLove
Summary: British secret agent Charlotte Hill makes a deal with a man in a bowler hat micro-seconds before she is to die in a plane crash. Her and four strangers must try their best to stay alive and blend in, but it proves almost impossible after she feels an unnatural urge to join the military and fight for freedom. But at what cost? (Also on Quotev under the same name)
1. Chapter 1

Shanghai Pudong International Airport, China.

7th March 2015

9:47pm

The waiting area by the gate had quite a few people in it. Some businessman with their smart suits on, some families with their children squirming on their laps, some people waiting on their own, and some with lovers who never seemed to want to look away from one and other.

The waiting area wasn't completely packed, but there were only a few seats for me to sit on once I had gotten through the security checks. Since I wasn't with anyone, I could choose any seat without having to think about having to sit with a friend or save a seat for them.

I looked around the area and decided to sit by the huge glass window that overlooked the grounds of the airport. I walked over and sat between a young father with his daughter on his knee and a businessman who was typing something up on his computer.

I stared out of the window to the sight of the runway all lit up with green lights and the faint glow of the city in the background. The glows and coloured lights that come from a city at night never fails to put a smile on my face as I love the sight of cities at night. Obviously the nicer parts of the city at night are amazing as you have the nightlife like: the clubs, the street markets that stay open all night, the parks that are still open for a midnight wonder. However, the more uncanny parts of the city at night are not my favourite. I feel like I should up my guard when I'm in those parts as I know that I don't belong there.

I pulled my backpack onto my lap and held it close to my chest. As much as I loved being in Shanghai, I wanted to go home as I had been away from my friends since before Christmas and I missed them (plus they owe me Christmas presents), so for that, home with my friends sounded like a great idea.

It was like I was in a daydream when the chiming of an announcement being made came on.

"Ladies and gentlemen, will first class and business class passengers boarding the British Airways flight to London Heathrow please go through to board. Thank you." Said a voice in Chinese before talking in English.

I got up and swung my bag onto my back. The business man in the suit next to me also got up and grabbed his briefcase before walking over to the small queue that was in front of the gate. Before I could follow, I quickly remembered that I had to get my passport and boarding pass out. No matter how many times I did this, I would sometimes forget this crucial detail.

I went through the front pocket of my bag and grabbed my passport with my boarding pass tucked inside of it and walked over to the queue and waited my turn to board.

Once I was at the front of the queue, I was greeted by a woman with a welcoming smile on her face and a hand outstretched waiting for me to give her my passport.

I handed it to her and watched her check my passport over.

After a few moments, she teared a strip off my boarding pass and put it in my passport before handing it back to me.

"Have a safe flight." she said before gesturing me to walk through to the gate.

I walked through the gate before walking through to the jet bridge before waiting behind the businessman from earlier to get onto the plane. Once the businessman flashed his boarding pass, he was gestured to his seat.

"Welcome aboard. Can I see your ticket?" the male flight attendant asked

I pulled out the ticket stub from my passport and handed it to him.

"A4, just down the aisle and by the window," he said before letting me past to find my seat.

I didn't have to walk too far to find my seat. The first class seating area was dimly lit with cool blue lights and the seats had small cubicles per passenger. The seats were of a comfortable black leather. There was a blanket and pillow and a small lamp by the bed as well as the entertainment system situated on the chair in front of me.

I sat in the seat and buckled myself in. I wasn't going to put my bag into overhead storage so I kept it by my feet. Inside that bag were documents about the latest mission SOSO had sent me on.

SOSO is an organization that uses undercover agents to gain intelligence before eradicating any threat. SOSO agents can be sent anywhere at any time. Crime syndicates, religious cults, terrorist organizations, the list goes on as to what we deal with. I had been taken into their care when I was seven and went through a few years of intensive training.

SOSO agents can go on their first mission aged ten and can go on their last aged seventy. As long as agents are in good condition, they are fit for missions. Plus, you can still go on missions while studying at university (which is what I am doing). My university wasn't too far from SOSO campus so I didn't have to pay for accommodation as I know that accommodation in Oxford is extremely pricey. I do earn money from the missions I do and high risk ones always pay well, I'm talking maybe £200,000 minimum for high risk missions as high risk missions have a high chance of possibly causing the agent death and possibly even risking the security of a country. Only skilled agents are sent on high risk missions as no one can pull you out of the mission if you are captured. On every mission, there is a mission controller who oversees everything. They can easily pull an agent out of a mission if it goes wrong, however, on high risk missions, if an agent is captured, that's it. You're on your own.

My recent mission involved a human trafficking ring that had shipped girls as young as eleven from Eastern Europe to China where the traffickers were located. Rumour had it that a government official was involved in the trafficking, which after my snooping, was discovered to be true. This mission was moderate risk, so I would say that I was probably going to get paid maybe £80,000, maybe slightly more or maybe slightly less. Either way, I was getting paid with money I wouldn't know what to do with. Put it away for the future? Go on a mad shopping spree? God only knows.

When I got back, I would have to do a full report on the notes and evidence I had on my laptop. Reports were tedious as you need to back up everything you write, plus we are given a 5,000 word limit and expect us to write up everything in detail. If I went over, the report would be put through the shredder and I would be told to redo it.

I shuddered at the thought and reached down to my bag and unzipped the front pocket and got out my phone that also acted as my MP3 player.

I turned it on and put it onto aeroplane mode before pressing the music icon and went onto a playlist titled: 'Chill'. I then pressed on the shuffle icon. Chinatown Style by HTRK started playing. The electronic sound used in the song added to the atmosphere. Dark with vivid undertones. I like it when music fits the atmosphere. It makes everything seem more defined and pronounced and that to me is beautiful.

I had stayed in Shanghai for longer than I needed to as Chinese new year celebrations were about to kick off when my mission finished, meaning that the airports were packed and I wanted to see the celebrations as I've never been in China during the new year festivities.

I could faintly hear the beep of the announcement that the plane was ready for take-off. I could feel the plane start to move before it completely stopped. It then started going again before picking up speed and then, I felt weightless as the plane started gaining height. After five minutes or so, the unfasten seatbelt sign started flashing.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned my inflight entertainment machine. I grabbed the remote and started flicking through the films and TV shows on offer. I settled for season 1 of Sherlock. I paused my music and plugged my earphones into the jack that was on the side of the armrest.

I clicked on the play button for episode one and relaxed.

An air hostess came over to me around fifteen minutes later with a trolley in tow. I unplugged one earplug and tore my eyes away from John Watson being deduced by Sherlock Holmes for the first time.

"Would madam like a free beverage before her meal?" The air hostess asked

"A rosé, please?" I replied

"Can I see your ID, please?" she asked

I bent over and reached for my passport. Once I felt the smooth surface of my passport, I handed it to her. Her eyes scanned for my date of birth before she handed it back to me.

"Thank you," she replied

The air hostess opened her cabinet and got out a small bottle of rosé and a plastic cup, she opened my tray and put them on it. The air hostess then handed me a laminated sheet.

"Here is a menu of what is on offer tonight. A vegetarian and vegan option as well as a gluten free option is also optional."

"Thank you." I replied with a smile before the air hostess walked off.

I raised the glass to my lips. The light pink liquid passed my lips and I smiled before resuming the show.

I looked down at the menu and saw Chinese characters on top of the English characters. I grabbed my bag and pulled out my glasses and put them on. As soon as I had read the menu, I had decided on what I wanted. Sweet and sour pork with rice and steamed vegetables and fruit salad for dessert.

The air hostess never came back to give me my dinner. Everything seemed to blur after around five minutes.

It got a bit bumpy which was due to turbulence. I've been on many flights, so turbulence didn't really bother me.

I looked out of my window to see dark clouds forming around the plane. I couldn't see a thing. No light from the city below could push through the dense clouds. Probably rainclouds.

I went back to watching Sherlock.

It wasn't until I heard an earthshattering crash flood through my ears that I yanked out my earphones and looked up to see what the hell was going on.

The first thing I noticed was that everything had gone silent. After such a loud crashing sound, everything was eerily quiet. I stood up and saw that everyone was sitting very quietly. Their entertainment systems had all paused, yet they didn't move. They didn't call anyone over to sort it out. In fact, they were completely frozen.

My eyes widened.

Something really wasn't right.

"Hello?" I called out

No response.

I walked out of my seating area and walked to the nearest person. A middle aged Chinese man wearing a button up shirt and dark blue trousers. I waved my hand in front of him. No response.

I put my hand on his head. No response.

"What the fuck?" I muttered to myself

In fact, the site of all of these people frozen in their seats was horrifying. It was like they were in a limbo between life and death staring at their screens or reading their books with different looks on their faces. Like they were stuck in the moment of the loud crashing sound.

"You're not going to get a response, you silly girl," a masculine voice behind me cooed

I quickly turned my head to see a middle aged man with vivid green eyes. I don't mean vivid green as in like a leafy green, but like a radioactive green that had a disconcerting glow to them.

I didn't know what to do.

"Who the fuck are you and what the hell is going on?" I asked shakily

He chuckled darkly.

"Your hero,"

I crumpled my brows.

"I asked you who you are, not for some riddle," I replied with only a slight quake in my voice.

I took his appearance all in again. He was tall and slender but a lot of his figure was hidden by a heavy black suit jacket. He was also wearing a bowler hat that acted as an attempt to hide his baldness. But he had this grin. It wasn't horrifying or creepy, it was just out of place.

"I am an auditor of death. I control who lives and who dies and who gets special treatment. Like you." He said

"What? Special treatment for what?"

He chuckled darkly.

"This plane has just collided with another which will kill every single passenger and crew member on board. You are being given a choice to stay on this plane and die or go somewhere far from here and live."

"I don't understand. Why me? Of all people who are on this aircraft. Why me?"

Another dark chuckle.

"Because I chose you,"

This man, no, this thing had the nerve to tell me that it was going to save me because it can. I could give a higher up I don't like a strong dose of laxatives in their tea, because I can but that doesn't mean I have to do it. This thing could have let me die a quick death with the rest of the passengers, knowing that I had no choice, but now with a choice, what would be the morally correct thing to do?

"Ha, you chose me? Like some kind of Pokémon. Fuck me, what's my rarity? Am I the human equivalent of a Pikachu or some shit?" I sneered

The thing before me chuckled.

"How very drole. Looks like you really are a little fire cracker, maybe it would be best to perhaps explain a few things to you before you make your decision,"

"And what would that be?"

"The place I'm sending you to is on a different timeline to the one you are currently on. You're not exactly getting sent back or forward in time, it's more that you are getting put into a different reality altogether,"

I crumpled my brows.

"I don't understand,"

The thing sighed.

"I'll use an example. Take a piece of string, be it any colour" black, white, green, blue, any colour you wish. Now wrap another piece of string around it. Now the string you are using is of a different colour. It's not the same as the first string, but it's still connected. Now, imagine multiple strings of so many different colours wrapped around this one piece of string to create almost a rope. The more far out you go, the less connection it has with the original string, yet there is still one thing in common. Can you guess what that is?"

I thought for a moment.

"They are still somewhat connected to the original string?"

"Correct. They are still modelled around that one piece of string. It still has the 'rules' of the first string. That is the explanation of multiple universes and timelines put simply. I assume know of Plato's allegory of the cave, correct?"

I nodded.

"Can you sum it up for me?"

Of all times, why was it now that this thing was asking me to sum up one of the most famous philosophical theories whilst still in a slight daze?

"There are prisoners chained up in a dark cave and they only have a fire as a source of light. There's also a pathway where every day, they are shown puppets, but because they are made to face the wall of the cave, they can only see the shadows of the puppets. Um… hang on,"

I clicked my fingers a few times as I tried to remember the allegory of the cave.

"Oh, they play this game as to who can guess the closest as to what the puppets represent. Then, um, one of the prisoners is set free and he has to go up a steep incline to get out of the cave. Once he's out, he's blinded by the sunlight but then his eyes slowly adjust to the sunlight-"

"You forgot something before the incline," The thing interrupted

I scoffed.

"Oh, right, I forgot. I'm stuck on a plane trapped in time with some… whatever the hell you are trying to remember a bloody philosophical story, I apologize if I miss out a few minor details, really, I do. Let's just cut things short. What are you trying to get at?" I snarled

The thing looked at me carefully.

"You missed that before the prisoner is-"

"For God's sake, forget the story, what are you trying to get at?"

The thing stared at me and narrowed his eyes. He bared his white, pearly teeth in annoyance and took a stride towards me. I gulped and gritted my teeth as he was now irritated. I didn't know what to do. It was like his radioactive green gaze held me in place so that I couldn't move, making him more intimidating and scarier than ever.

"Now, listen here, girl. It's important you understand the layers of the universe. As an auditor of death, I have control of your material universe and if the string your reality is based upon were to be cut because I lost my temper, I could lose my title and possibly be banished, but it can be done. Now, shut up and listen.

I nodded.

Fuck me, he was scary.

His eyes widened slightly and he gave me a grin.

"Anyway, before you had to interrupt, the prisoner is made to stare at the fire and the puppets and the prisoner has to come to realise that the shadows that he thought was his reality was a mere illusion of what his true reality was. However, those puppets are only a mere copy of the real form of things. Rather than getting out of the incline by himself, he is dragged out and is blinded by the light. Care to carry on?"

I nodded.

"Um, he finds that once his eyes have adjusted to the light, he can only look at the shadows of the objects around him. Then he starts looking at the reflections, then he looks at the real things casting the shadows and reflections and he realises that they are more real than the puppets. He then is able to look at the sun and he realises that it is reflecting all of the things around him. He wants to tell the other prisoners what he has seen in the world above, so he goes back into the cave, but he finds that the cave is too dark as his eyes are so used to the outside world. Once he finds the prisoners, he attempts to play the game with the puppets with them, but he finds that he can't even see the wall properly. He tries to tell them of the world outside, but they refuse to listen and end up killing him,"

There is a silence between us.

"Now, you understand the outside of the cave represents the world of Forms, correct?"

I nodded.

"The Forms are like um traits, like beauty, there can be things that are beautiful, but that thing can be destroyed, yet beauty cannot be destroyed," I replied

"Now, the string that is in the centre. That is the true timeline of forms. That is where everything you know exists. Now, you are on an outer string that never touches the original string in the centre, yet from other strings, you have a similar timeline and you have shadows of forms in your timeline as your timeline touches ghosting strings. Only through astral projection can you find the true world of forms or if you are an auditor of death, like me. I needed you to understand this because where I am sending you is similar to your timeline, yet very different,"

"How so?"

"Now, where I am sending you is like the cave. People may not understand you, and you may have seen more of the true world than they have. Now unlike the prisoner that was set free, I want you to play along with the game of shadows. You may not see the shadows, but pretend you can, there may also be a few things that are like the outside world to you, but I want you to keep pushing into the outside world. Don't drag your heels in, explore it. Go outside the cave and become the philosopher, but don't preach to others to become philosophers too as that would tick people off,"

I was now completely lost as to what was being said.

"Now, will you go face the wall or are you willing to explore the cave before seeing the true world?"

"I guess I want to explore the cave"

The thing clapped its hands.

"Excellent, now grab your bag. You might need it for later on,"

I strode over to my seat and grabbed my bag. I quickly remembered to grab my phone and earphones and shoved them into my pocket.

I didn't know what I was doing. It was like I was acting on impulse. I needed to explore this so called cave. I was curious and I guess I wanted to strengthen my knowledge of the known universe.

"What now?" I asked

"Come over here,"

I swung my bag onto my back and took a deep inhale of breath before striding back over to the thing.

"Good, now grab my hand,"

He held out his hand and I tentatively stretched out my own and took his hand.

"Now, remember to stay alive as you explore the cave, understood,"

I nodded.

Was this a messed up dream or some weird twisted reality?

Before my questions could be answered, I felt my feet buckle as it felt like the floor had given way. The hand that I once held was gone and replaced by the air and then I felt the sensation of falling. Where was I falling from? How was I going to land safely without a parachute? Where did the thing disappear to?

"No," was all I could squeak out as I felt an immense pressure surround my body. All of the air in my lungs had been forced out and my ribcage had tightened by tenfold. I could only close my eyes as I could start to feel my whole body start to spin uncontrollably, making me feel sick.

I then landed on my stomach with a thud.

I felt around to make sure that I had landed on a somewhat flat grassy surface. My chest had less pressure surrounding it, but I still felt nauseous. I tentatively opened my eyes and was almost blinded by the sunlight. Like the philosopher.

It took a while for my vision to clear and my hearing to start letting sound in. I could hear the twitter of birds and the soft hum of a conversation.

"Think she's waking up yet?" one voice asked

"Dunno, maybe," said another

"Maybe she's dead," gruffed another

"Shut up, Carlos. Nobody was asking for your opinion,"

I opened my mouth and the only words that came tumbling out of my mouth were:

"What the fuck?"

"See, she is alive," a male voice said

I heard the scuffling of feet coming towards me and I felt the slight pressure of a hand resting on my back. I tensed up and gripped the grass between my fingers as I attempted to find an outlet for my nausea.

I then came to the uncomfortable realisation that whatever contents was in my stomach was going to make a surprise reappearance as I felt my stomach start to constrict and my throat tighten. However, I felt like I didn't have the strength to sit up properly as my face was pressed up against the ground. Meaning that whatever was coming out of my mouth was going on to my face.

I took a few deep breaths before I heaved noisily and I felt a rush of warmth exit my mouth.

"Sit her up!" a female voice said

I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders and pull me back as I heaved again, making me vomit on my thighs.

"Fucking hell," I burbled

I felt soft hands rubbing soothing circles on my back. I started breathing normally once I realised that I was no longer going to throw up.

Once I regained some of my strength, I turned around to see a man of Asian descent kneeling next to me. If I were to put an age on him, I'd guess around 21, maybe 22. He wasn't scared of me. He was more interested into the fact that I was there. He was wearing a flowery shirt and three quarter length beige trousers.

"I guess you're the last one." He said

"The last one where?"

The guy looked around nervously.

"I don't know,"

I huffed.

"Helpful," I muttered

So were they in the same situation as I was? Had they somehow cheated death and were now wondering where the hell they were?

"What's your name?" I asked

"The name's Peter. Peter Jung. Over there are Carlos de Santos and Carmen Owens. Oh, and to your left is Terrence Baker. I guess you were saved by the Minute Man too." He said

"The Minute Man?" I asked

"He saved us from death at the last minute. Hence the nickname." Peter said sweetly

I smirked.

"You consider that thing a man?" I asked

Peter furrowed his brows.

"Well, he was in the form of a man,"

"What about his eyes?" I asked

"What about his eyes?" Terrence questioned

"They were a weird colour. They were almost unsettling,"

The girl, Carmen nodded.

"I know what you mean. It was like his eyes were able to read me like a book. They were so vivid, it was almost unearthly,"

I shuddered and the group almost fell into a deadly silence when Peter piped up:

"Can we have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"Charlotte Hill," I replied

He smiled.

"It's a pretty name. You're British right?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Was my accent that obvious?" I asked sarcastically

As we chatted, I started to notice the appearance of the people around me.

Carmen was very pretty. She had dark brown hair that was curled and just touched her waist. Her eyes were a pretty shade of green. Not like the radioactive disaster of the eyes of the Minute Man, but like a subtle green with flecks of brown patterned around her iris. Her skin was tanned and she had a skinny figure. She looked slightly younger than me, although I don't think I'd be able to give an age.

Carlos had black hair and tanned skin. His eyes were brown and his dark hair was in a messy tousled style. His figure was athletic and he looked cool in denim jeans and a white shirt. I assume he was maybe eighteen, but again, I couldn't be too sure. His head was in his lap and he looked angry and upset at the same time. I guess I couldn't blame him. Losing friends and family in a blink of an eye is traumatic within itself, then being snatched up into another universe, it must have hit him badly.

Terrence had pale skin and grey eyes. His hair was in a mop style and was dark blonde in colour. He had a more solemn look on his face and what struck me was his very muscular build. It was almost like he had injected muscular implants into his arms to make them large and bulky. He had a slight stubbly beard which made him look like he was going through some sort of midlife crisis.

Peter had lightly tanned skin and brown eyes. He had his dark black hair in a taper cut. He had one of the widest smiles I have ever seen which didn't look fake. He had a regular build with maybe a bit of muscle coming through.

"Peter, what he told you since he gave you money." Said Carlos in a low mumble. South America. Columbia

"He gave you money?" I asked

Peter nodded.

"He said the same thing to me as he did Carmen. All he said was that we were somewhere in the future but it had been broken up and humanity was now cowering behind walls." Was Peter's reply

"The cave," I murmured to myself

Was this wall supposedly surrounding us the cave? Something that humankind would live in and only call truth?

"What was that?" Peter asked

"Have you ever heard of the allegory of the cave?" I asked

Everyone except Terrence shook their heads.

In all honesty, I didn't want to retell the story so I waved off the idea.

Hang on.

Why would this Minute Man, this thing tell me something and not them? No, something really wasn't right. Surely, this Minute Man would want us to all be on the same page once we got here, right?

"Ok, so how did you all come to get here?" I asked

Everyone looked down as if they didn't want to speak about it.

I instantly felt terrible. We had just had in a near death experience and they probably didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-" I gushed before Terrence cut me off.

"It's fine. I was in a hiking around the base of the Andes when I came across a bear. I guess I made too much of a racket and the thing was hungry and pissed off. It started chasing me but I tripped and twisted my ankle. It was about to pounce on me until 'he' showed up and I woke up here."

There was another silence before Carmen piped in.

"I have an allergy to wasps. I was out with friends in the countryside when I was almost stung. I have a severe allergy so if it did sting me, I would've died as there were no payphones or service in the area. Before I was stung, he appeared and Bing bang boom, I arrived here."

We were looking around our group to see who would talk next.

Silence.

So I broke it.

"I was on a plane to London from Shanghai after going on holiday to see some friends for New Year. The plane collided with another plane and the whole thing was going to go down in flames until this Minute Man arrived." I said

I had to lie. These guys couldn't know who I really was. I don't know how well they'd react if I told them I worked for a spy agency so I decided to tell them half-truths.

In all honesty, I was still slightly shaken. I have been parachuting out of a plane before but never had I been in a plane that had crashed and been that close to death. I have had guns pressed to my head and knives to my throat but I knew how to get out of that situation. Never have I felt so powerless that some entity that was out of this world have to help me.

"I was cliff diving with friends. It was in an unknown place so we wouldn't have known that the water hid some pretty sharp rocks. Anyways, I went face first towards the rocks when... you know what happens next." Said Peter quietly.

I noticed Peter give Carmen a slight nod before looking to Carlos.

We all turned to Carlos who we expected to start telling us his story. Instead, we were met with a timid looking guy. He had tucked his head into his knees before looking up with tears in his eyes.

"It's weird how we're just talking about our near death experiences like nothing happened. How can you guys do it?"

"You don't have to tell us if you..." Terrence started

"Us? We've only just met and already we're playing happy families?" Pah. Why do I need to tell you? I don't even know you!" He yelled

"Calm down. I know we've just seen the impossible but-" Peter tried to reason

"But what? I want to go home!" He yelled

That made us all go quiet.

We were all trying to make everything better by making friends just to make this whole experience less painful than it really was, but now Carlos had hit us with what we were all thinking. We all wanted to go back to familiarity but it was like a mission the Minute Man had set us, well, me on. To explore this place. As much as I didn't want to admit it, it was either this or death and I made that decision and I had to stick with it.

"Fine. I'll find my way around without you fucking morons!" Carlos snarled before standing up and walking off.

Carmen went to stand up and go after him but Peter shook his head.

"Let him," Peter said quietly.

"But-"

Peter cut her off with a look.

I just watched the scene unfold.

Then it hit me. I wasn't going to see my friends ever again. Marie, Mark, Clara, Gina, Thalia, Zack, Ellen. They were too far from my reach.

The work I had just done, the people I have saved. Gone.

University. No more.

That cute guy who sits behind me in lectures. Gone.

All of these emotions started welling up until I couldn't take it anymore.

As a spy, you get used to grizzly sights and the feeling of always being in danger, but there was always a comfort in that danger. It was knowing what was dangerous and what was not and finding that out in a somewhat controlled environment.

We are told that emotions aren't damaging or something that we should hide. Emotions are key as to what makes us human and lack of makes you an empty vessel. As a spy, you are encouraged to get rid of your pent up emotion through sport, or art, or whatever as long as it wasn't destructive. If it became destructive, it became a problem which made you less capable as a spy.

All I wanted to do was lie in my bed whilst listening to music and staring at the blank canvas that was my wall. I would imagine all sorts of things, imagining I was a book character, imagining I could play a musical instrument decently and maybe performing it.

I would then get my laptop out and watch a series on Netflix with a side of microwaved nachos with warm cheese sauce with grated cheese on top, then I would raid the cupboards for something else. Crackers, chocolate, cup noodles, crisps, maybe even left overs in the fridge.

After I finish watching whatever I was watching, I would go into my en-suite bathroom and run a hot bath. I would put my hair into a bun and put scented oils and maybe a bath bomb in. I would then light a few candles. I would get into the bath and relax and I would only get out once the water went cold. Once that happened, I would dry myself off and put on a fluffy dressing gown and surround myself with warmth. I then go into the kitchen and make myself a cup of green tea before going back into my room. I would put my mug onto the bedside table and take off my dressing gown and get into bed.

To lull myself to sleep, I would read a classical novel (as quite a few are dull and pretty boring) whilst taking sips of tea. Once I considered myself tired enough, I would fold the corner of the page, turn off the light and go to sleep. I would have my alarm set for maybe 5:30 the next morning, so that I could exercise and get rid of all of the junk I had eaten the day before.

I must have gone into some trance like state as I suddenly saw a hand waving in front of me.

"Oh sorry," I murmured

Terrence was standing before me. He grinned before offering me is hand. I took his hand and he helped me up and gain my balance.

"You alright, love?" he asked

I nodded

"Yeah, sorry I spaced out a bit," I replied

Terrence chuckled.

"Nah, don't worry about it. We're all gonna go and explore the place, you feel alright to walk around?"

I nodded.

I felt around on my back and noticed my backpack wasn't on there. I widened my eyes and looked at the spot where I was once lying face down and saw that my backpack wasn't there.

"Where's my backpack?" I asked

Terrence jumped.

"I have it, sorry. I wanted to take the pressure off your back." Terrence said as he handed it to me

"Thanks," I said carefully

Please don't tell me he went through my bag. Fuck fuck FUCK!

I swung it onto my back and saw that the three people were waiting for me.

"You ready?" Carmen asked

I nodded.

"I'm ready," I replied

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N:

I started a new account as I was having problems with my last account.

Sorry for the inconvenience.


	2. Chapter 2

The cold breeze blew on our faces gently as we made our way down the hill. The temperature wasn't too warm as I noticed that the sky was dotted with grey clouds that were threatening to rain. Thankfully, I was still wearing my coat when the plane came down, so I was still able to keep warm, yet Carmen and Peter were not so lucky.

Carmen was wearing short denim shorts that were frayed at the edges, showing off her slim tanned legs. As a top, she was wearing a short sleeved Crimson Wave T shirt that clung to her figure. That was all. No cardigan or jumper or coat to protect her from the breeze that would blow past us every few seconds.

Peter on the other hand wore a red floral Hawaiian shirt that left his arms vulnerable to the breeze. He also wore black shorts that just stopped above his knee. I noticed that he didn't have much hair on his legs like a lot of guys do. Not that it was bad, it was actually refreshing to see a guy with sleek legs.

Another cold breeze blew past us which made Peter rub his arms as the skin on his arms developed goosebumps. Carmen crossed her arms and cursed under her breath as her teeth started to chatter. Terrence side eyed them before he unzipped his black waterproof coat and handed it to Peter, who took it gratefully.

I guess I felt bad as I unbuttoned my beige coat that just covered my mid-thigh and handed it to Carmen, leaving me just that little bit colder. I was wearing an oversized navy jumper with a black bod con skirt that reached just above my knee. Thankfully, I was also wearing black woolly tights and brown ankle boots with a grey tartan scarf around my neck as the winter months in China are freezing.

"Oh, thank you!" Carmen said before pulling the coat around her.

The only thing we could see were more hills and a great big white wall that towered maybe sixty odd metres above the ground. There was an opening not too far from where we were that led into a city or a town? There were people on horseback riding into the city with a cart in tow.

I couldn't hear the roars of engines or the groans of cars on a motorway. Not even a train could be heard.

"Are we in one of those Amish communities?" Terrence asked as he gazed at the horse and cart

"Maybe," Peter murmured

"Oh fuck me sideways. You know they don't have electricity, right? I've been dying to get my hands on WiFi for weeks. If this is a bloody Amish community, I may have to chop one of my bollocks off," Terrence whined

The image of Terrence holding one of his testicles in one hand and a butchers knife in the other made me splutter. I've seen some pretty disgusting things but self-mutilation, let alone giving himself a vasectomy was pretty fucking vile.

"That's grim," I replied

"Not as grim as living without WiFi,"

Maybe no WiFi could be a good thing. I mean I can go without WiFi for a pretty long amount of time, so I might not struggle too much with this, but I didn't know how my companions were going to cope. From Terrence's reaction, maybe not too well, but we'll see.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we walked passed a few stragglers on horseback. Maybe they could tell us where we were?

"Who's going to be our spokesperson?" Peter asked

"Spokesperson?" Carmen repeated

Peter rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"If we're going to approach different people, maybe we need someone to speak for us. Someone who can speak for us as a group,"

Carmen shrugged.

"Charlotte should do it," Terrence said bluntly

My eyes widened.

"Why me?"

Peter nodded in agreement.

"You're the best-spoken one out of all of us," he stated

I didn't mind approaching new people or asking for directions or anything, but I guess I was out of my comfort zone and I didn't really want to be the first to have to interact with someone of this universe (or whatever time paradox thing we had been thrown into).

"Fine," I mumbled

The closest person I saw was a man who was sitting up in a rickety wooden cart being pulled by a horse that had the tall broad features of a Suffolk Punch: a horse bred for labour.

This told us something new about our surroundings.

Suffolk punches fell out of favour after labour became mechanised. From what I remember, the breed was in such decline that it was considered a rare breed. The fact that a horse bred for menial tasks was being used for something other than for show told me that we were probably going to go without machinery for a while.

As we came closer to the man, I cleared my throat and took a deep breath.

"Excuse me?" I said as I was a few metres from the man

He looked at me and his eyes widened. He had a brown scruffy beard and scruffy brown hair that was only partly hidden by a flat cap on his head. He wore dark trousers and a dark jacket with a dark blue shirt underneath.

"I'm sorry, I don't want any business from you today," he said in an American sounding accent

I think my guess of this being an Amish community was becoming more likely.

"Business?" I inquired

The man gulped.

"What would a woman of youth want with me other than my money? Maybe some other time," he gulped as he eyed my legs nervously.

Oh God, he thought I was a prostitute.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I was actually going to ask you where I was and if there was anywhere for my friends and I to get a drink?" I asked

The man narrowed his eyes and looked at me thoughtfully.

"You're telling me you don't know where you are?" he asked

'No,' I thought sarcastically to myself.

I nodded meekly.

The man huffed.

"You're outside the city of Trost. There's loads of places to get a drink and buy clothes to cover up your legs with. I don't know what village you're from, but I would suggest covering up before the military police see what you're wearing and throw you in jail!"

I tried to make sense of his words. He was telling me that I was just outside a city called Trost, there's food and clothes. I look out of place because my legs are on show, and I could be thrown into jail for indecent exposure. Great, just brilliant.

"Oh, thank you for your help!" I replied warmly

"Moron," he muttered under his breath as he started his horse back en-route.

Behind me, I heard soft chuckling of the group. Perhaps it was my inability to communicate properly or maybe it was the fact that I was called a prostitute. Either way, at least I tried. I didn't see them attempt to help me. Carmen, Terrence, and Peter patted me on the back.

"Well done, Charlie," said Terrence

"Piss off, he called me a prostitute and a moron," I said sourly

Terrence spluttered.

"Because of your clothes?" Peter asked

I narrowed my eyes.

"Maybe we need to buy new clothes," Carmen said thoughtfully

"But where from?" Peter asked

"Old McDonald over there said that we should be able to find a place to buy clothes within the city of 'Trost', we could also try and find somewhere to stay for a while?" I suggested

"Sounds like a plan," Carmen sighed

We walked through the opening in the wall and past a few people who looked at us once and turned their heads to look at us again before scampering quickly away from us with this look on their faces as if they had found out we were carrying disease. If old McDonald looked at me strangely, initiative told me that his values would be in this city full of people.

"We stick out like sore thumbs." I murmured

Terrence nodded nervously, I didn't notice until now how fucking tall he was. He was definitely over a foot taller than me and I could see under his fleece that he was pretty muscular as I could just about see the outline of his biceps, plus his build was pretty athletic, making him look imposing.

Well, he would look imposing if it wasn't for the bun on top of his head, which made him look like a hipster.

I didn't look any better. I admit to having similar characteristics to a stereotypical hipster like the occasional puff of weed, meditation, music festivals, and enjoying indie bands. So once the mission in Shanghai was over, I went into the SOSO HQ in Shanghai and with the help of another member of SOSO named Xiu, dyed my hair peroxide blonde and giving the tips of my hair a spritz of colour and dyed them pink.

SOSO's main branch is in Oxford, UK but there are other branches around the world that have fewer members. The UK branch has around 200 agents in total, making it the biggest branch. Other branches are located in: Iceland, Spain, France, America, and Norway. In total, there are 750 agents worldwide (not including training staff, teachers, medics, gardeners, electricians, and anyone else who works onsite).

Once we were through the gate, it felt like all eyes were on our group. We weren't able to walk a step without getting stared at or hearing gasps ripple among the crowd.

"We really must look dreadful," Peter remarked

I don't think that it was that we were badly dressed, it was more that our taste in style had devolved into the… I couldn't give an exact time period of the garments. They looked like they were from the Middle Ages but they looked more modern but the garments were too simplistic to be as late as the Edwardian period.

The garments ranged in styles. Some women wore skirts that were straight, and others wore floor length pinafores over plain blouses. Some even wore trousers, which made me think that this wasn't the Middle Ages and closer to the Edwardian era, but even then, women rarely wore trousers. I noticed that some women were also wearing shawls or waistcoats and even bonnets.

'We certainly do stick out, that's for sure," I said as I noticed a pair of eyes ogle at my nylon covered legs making me feel slightly more self-conscious than before.

"What are they wearing?" whispered one woman to another

"Bunch of village freaks if you ask me," replied her friend as they made their way around our group in an attempt to get away from us

"Terrence, I'm scared!" whispered Carmen anxiously

I guess as Terrence was the biggest and probably the strongest out of all of us, he was going to be our source of comfort in the crowds. If anyone approached us, Terrence would immediately intimidate them, giving us no trouble. Ironically, Terrence was eying the crowd nervously and gulped before patting Carmen on the back in an attempt to reassure her.

"Just keep going until we find a market stall," Terrence declared

Just as the words tumbled out of Terrence's mouth, luck hit us.

There was a market straight ahead. Busy and full of people, but a place where we could learn how to fit into whatever this vivid dream was.

Clusters of stalls with white canvas roofs caught our eyes as we packed tightly together so that we didn't lose each other. Terrence put his hand on mine and Carmen's shoulder and Peter clasped my hand and walked behind me. It was slightly uncomfortable but I wasn't going to think about that. I couldn't. If I wanted to get through this day without getting lost, I would have to stick with these people.

"There, a clothes stall!" Carmen cried excitedly

We walked hastily in the direction that Carmen was pointing in whilst barging into people (accidently of course) which earned us a few more nasty glares and even a few curses tossed at us. Oh the joys of being absolutely clueless on social norms.

Once we made our way down the cobbled street to the market, we bunched up even closer together in order to take up less space.

"Fresh fruit and vegetables all the way from wall Maria!"

"Get you're fresh fish here!"

"Bunch of five roses all for just under seven bronze 'uns!"

Once we had made our way to the stall, we were greeted by an elderly woman with a brown shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She wore a dull green shirt, accompanied by a floor length darker green skirt. She was old and wrinkled and seemed to be blind in one eye. Her lips were thin and the area around her lips had a red ring around it from her constantly licking her lips. Her grey hair had been pulled back into a tight bun causing the skin around her eyes to tighten and make her look slightly mad.

She seemed to be murmuring under her breath. Either constant reminders to herself or she was slagging us off as I noticed that she was eyeing our clothing in a distasteful manner.

Terrence lent over and put his lips to my ear which made me shiver as his warm breath danced across the shell of my ear.

"You're the spokesperson," was all he murmured

I coughed to clear my throat which drew her attention to me.

"What can I do for ya, pet?" she croaked

Although her words seemed sincere, the tone she used was sly, sinister, and a touch sarcastic.

"My friends and I wish to purchase some clothes. Would you know which might suit and fit us?" I asked in the politest voice I could muster

The woman stared at me with her mouth slightly agape before chuckling and pointing a withered finger at me. Her open mouth displayed only a few yellowing teeth pegged onto her gums.

"From the Capitol are we? Such a prim and proper accent ya got there. These ain't clothes for primmers like yaself. Ya comin' to the wrong person if ya want Capitol styled clothes," she said befoe chuckling to herself

I straightened my back and let go of Terrence's hand.

"Look, my friends and I are from out of town and we need clothes that will keep us warm, please?" I replied

The woman tutted and started picking up multiple clothes and separating them into four piles and would occasionally cast a glance at us as she tried to work out our size without measuring us. She folded the clothes and wandered to the back of her stall to get something.

"Peter, where's your money?" I asked

Peter shuffled before handing me a small dark brown leather pouch that was full of coins. No notes, just coins.

The woman came back with woven sacks for our clothes and put a different pile of clothes into a different sack before doing a calculation in her head.

"3 silver 'uns,"

I reached into the pouch and saw bronze, silver, and gold coins inside. I took out three silver coins and handed them into her wrinkled palm. She grinned at the money in her hand.

"Thank you," I said sincerely

"Come again soon," she said as we linked up again and started walking past the different stalls in the market.

"So I guess we need to find a place to stay, like a hotel or inn or whatever they have here?" Peter asked

"Yeah, we can change there and hopefully shift the gaze off us a bit more," said Terence

As we walked out of the marketplace, I saw the high street lined with houses and shop fronts. Bakery shop windows stacked with freshly made bread and pastries. The aroma was mouth-watering and I started to crave a warm loaf of bread.

As I was glancing at the different shop windows, I felt Terrence tense up.

"Hey, guys. There's an inn over there." He said while pointing at the building on the other side of the pavement.

I turned my head and saw the inn across the road. There was a sign hanging from the wall with a white horse standing on its hind legs with the words 'The White Horse Inn' written in blue underneath. Outside were a few horses tied up with a bit of hay for them to graze on.

We crossed the road and walked into the inn.

As soon as we stepped inside, I was hit with waves of nausea as I inhaled the heavy stench of damp, piss and ale all mixed together. Carmen and Peter looked equally disgusted whereas Terrence seemed unaffected by the heavy atmosphere but I noticed that he wrinkled his nose a few times.

The inn wasn't too heavily crowded. It was mostly men in there talking loudly with their friends. The women that I did see, wore low cut blouses with a colourful corset underneath that pushed their breasts up along with a matching skirt, or was the corset attached to the skirt? The women were entertaining the men and were cackling at whatever jokes the men had just seemingly told them. Possibly prostitutes.

"God, this place stinks." Carmen murmured in my ear.

I grunted in agreement as I wrinkled my nose.

As we passed a certain table, there was a low whistle given by one of the men. I turned around and saw a table full of wasted guys in their mid to late thirties eying up Carmen and I.

"Hey, love, how about a drink?" one of them shouted from one of the tables.

I gave him a sneer and hurried in the direction of the bar. We ignored him as we clung to each other to stop us from being separated.

Once we made it to the front desk, we were greeted by a large guy with black shaggy hair, a bushy beard and mating caterpillars for eyebrows. He looked like Hagrid on steroids as his sleeves were rolled up and I noticed that his arms were muscular rather than flabby.

"Ho' can I 'elp?" he asked as he glanced up at Terrence from behind the desk.

He had a deep growl for a voice. It definitely suited his look.

Terrence coughed.

I guess Terence decided to be the spokesman in this environment as he gave me a pat on the shoulder as if to say 'I got this'.

"Do you have any rooms? It's just my friends and I have been travelling and we need a place to stay." Terrence replied

The man turned around and grabbed a key from a peg and handed it to Terrence.

"Upstairs. 'T's the one on the far lef'. Can't miss it." He said

"Thank you."

We turned around and made our way towards the stairs that were to our right.

We climbed the stairs. The creaking sound that was emitted after each step made me cringe as the stairs sounded worn and like they'd collapse if we stepped too heavily onto one of the steps.

Once we got onto the landing of the second floor, we made a left and walked to the end of the corridor. Terrence put the key into the door and unlocked it.

We stepped into the room. It had two double beds, a desk and a questionable pile of straw in the corner of the room.

The beds were pretty firm looking and looked relatively clean, but there was something about the smell in the room that made me wrinkle my nose again in disgust. The room smelt like sewage that had been baked in the sun and left to dry along with the distinguishable smell of rotting wood caused by damp.

"Home, sweet home." Peter said before closing the door behind him.

I lay my sac on the bed and pulled out each item of clothing I had:

-A white blouse

-A crimson tunic

-A black tunic

-A pair of mustard yellow trousers

-A pair of white trousers

-A pleated ankle length black skirt

-An olive green calf length dress with a collar

-A black waist length jacket

'Not bad' I thought to myself. The material wasn't itchy and the stitching wasn't badly done at all, so my clothes weren't going to suddenly fall off me which was a plus.

After laying my clothes on the bed, I investigated the room a bit more while the others lifted their clothes in order to try and see them in another light.

"They have no sense of style." said Peter as he held up a mossy green shirt in disgust.

As I was wondering around the room, I spotted a mass of hay in the corner of the room.

"What the hell?" I murmured to myself

I squatted down to inspect it closer, only to find that the rancid smell of sewage and rot was coming from the pile and saw a dark mass. A rat? Was there poison in the hay that was used to kill the rats and they used the rancid smell in order to draw the rats in?

Curiosity made me lean in to get a closer look. I reluctantly poked the straw and felt that the straw was damp.

A leaky roof, maybe?

Bad Idea.

I smelt my finger and gagged. It smelt of piss.

Why would it have-?

Oh shit. OH MY FUCKING GOD. It was a toilet. A fucking toilet and I put my finger in it.

That dark mass wasn't a dead rat but a rotting piece of human waste. The reason why it stunk of damp was because people were pissing willy nilly onto the hay, the piss goes onto the rug, and to top it all off, the wood starts to rot.

"Fucking hell!" I yelled as I fell backwards while wiping my finger on my skirt.

"What is it?" Carmen asked

"There's only a breeding ground for AIDS in the corner of the room!" I screamed as I scurried backwards.

"Are you saying...that's...a toilet?" Peter winced

"No, there are infected dildos in the corner," I replied sarcastically whilst still wiping my finger.

"I ain't taking a shit in that!" Terrence said in disgust

"Charming, Terrence." Said Carmen sarcastically

"What? I was just saying that I wouldn't pull down my trousers and-"

"That's enough!" Carmen snapped as she looked slightly green

Carmen looked at the straw pile before looking away in disgust.

"Does anyone have hand sanitizer?" I asked meekly

"I have wet wipes. My friends are messy eaters so I always bring them in my bag." Said Carmen

"Cheers." I said as I stood up and walked over to Carmen who was going through her shoulder bag.

She then pulled out a packet of wet wipes before handing a wipe to me. I started vigorously wiping my hands while still staring at the straw.

"I guess humanity forgot what a toilet and dignity is." Said Peter

"Or maybe people like to get kinky and like to piss in front of their peers?" I jested

Terrence snorted.

"I mean in all honesty, I can't piss without anyone watching me-"I said in a serious tone of voice before being cut off by Terrence

"Don't worry, if someone's pissing, I piss with them. Hey, Charles, we can be piss buddies!" He guffawed

I laughed but Carmen and Peter looked at Terrence with wide eyes and open mouths. They both also looked a bit sick by the idea of watching other people go to the toilet, I noticed the awkwardness in the room and swiftly changed the subject.

"Shall we get changed and go down for a drink?" I asked

"That's a good idea." said Carmen quickly

I've never felt the need to feel embarrassed or self-conscious about being naked in front of others. After seeing multiple body parts whether it be penises, vaginas, or breasts; they all just merge into one. They're just body parts that have been censored. Everyone has a 'nether region' so I don't know why I should feel ashamed in undressing. It wasn't like I was going to undress and suddenly the whole group would turn on me ending in a massive messy orgy. If anything, we'll all be told to look the other direction so we don't catch a glimpse of each other.

I took of my shoes before I stripped off my scarf and jumper and looked at the items of clothing before me and decided to wear the white blouse and black trousers. I stripped off my shirt and put on the blouse before buttoning it. I then shimmied out of my skirt and peeled the tights from my legs before putting the trousers on, which were undeniably comfortable.

I sat down on the bed and put my shoes back on and laced them up before standing up and turning around to see what the group were wearing.

Carmen was wearing a loose fitting cream shirt and ankle length navy skirt and a black cardigan.

Peter was wearing his green shirt and brown trousers with a blue jacket.

Terrence wore a long sleeved blue shirt with black trousers.

Peter looked down at his outfit.

"I look like a fucking elf, I mean whose idea was it to make my colour scheme a fucking woodland?" he said huffily

To be honest, he looked like an imp. I say that as he was slightly shorter than me by maybe an inch or two. I think if I said that out loud, Peter would rip me a new arse hole. Of course, I could fight him off but that would cause tension within the group.

"No Peter, you look great." Carmen reassured him whilst looking away to cover her smirk

"Carmen, you're a terrible liar," Peter

"I'm serious, you look fine,"

Peter furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to send a retort Carmen's way but Terrence interrupted them.

"Stop whining. Peter, stop worrying about how you look and let's go get a drink,"

Peter huffed before nodding his head.

"Fine," was all he had to say before Terrence went over to the door and held it open. We walked outside the room and locked the door before walking down the stairs into the crowded bar area. We found a table by a small window and sat down.

"I'll go get some drinks. What do you guys want?" Peter asked

"Anything alcoholic." was Terrence's response

"I'll have the same," I murmured

Peter looked over at Carmen who was glancing around the room curiously.

"And you?" Peter asked

Carmen turned towards him and shrugged:

"Water," was all she replied with

Peter nodded before taking his pouch out of his trousers and started pushing his way through the gaggle of people. Within almost an instant, Peter was swallowed up by the crowd.

"So, now we have a place to stay and a change of clothes, what are we gonna do about jobs and finding more of a _permanent_ place to live?" Carmen asked

Terrence shrugged.

"We haven't seen enough of the area to have come up with job ideas, I mean I guess we could earn our keep sweeping the floors in this inn or something," was all he suggested before wagging his finger as if he had come up with an excellent idea.

"No no no, we could find a brothel and-"

"No," Carmen interrupted

"I mean we technically could," I shrugged

Carmen looked exasperated.

"No I mean I would never sink so low as to sell my body for money," she hissed

I slumped back in my chair and stared down at the table. I knew what Carmen meant, that her body was her body and she could make the choice on her own as to what happened to it. But spending two months in a rundown brothel among girls who had nothing but their will to live and men who paid a dear sum of money just so that they could spend an hour or two to take away that will changes your view on prostitution. Yes, some people work as prostitutes legally and I have nothing against them, but to call people who do this 'whores' is a shitty thing to do.

I looked up and was about to send a retort but Terrence interrupted me,

"Wow, you really have a low view on prostitutes, y'know, not all prostitutes are whores, some do it because they're desperate and have nothing else to live for,"

"What I'm trying to say is that we haven't sunk so low that we need to sell ourselves. Not yet anyway," she muttered

The atmosphere surrounding us suddenly became thick as we sat around the table in complete silence with nothing to say to each other. I was attempting to formulate a sentence in my head but no conversation starters or ice breakers came to mind. All of the questions I had were either too sensitive or just plain stupid, so I kept my mouth shut.

Carmen's eyes were darting around the room in order to find a focus point that wasn't any of us whereas Terrence was just staring down at the table as if he were contemplating something.

Sure enough, I could see Peter wrestling his way through the crowd with all of our drinks cradled in his arms. Once Carmen and Terrence caught sight of Peter, they sat up straight.

Once Peter got to our table, he slammed our drinks down and shook his arms in order to get feeling back into them.

"Ok, so I got you two," he pointed at Terrence and I "Cider. And for you, Carmen, a glass of water,"

Peter then started distributing the drinks before sitting down. He then raised his glass and gestured for all of us to do the same.

"To a new life," he said

"To a new life," Carmen, Terrence, and I said before clinking our glasses together

I took a sip.

It wasn't the best cider I'd tasted. No, I take that back. After I swallowed the sip I had taken, there was this after taste that reminded me of the time that I had to take a sip of my own piss for a bet. A pissy aftertaste that made me gag slightly.

"God, this stuff tastes like piss." Terrence choked

"I agree, you think the barman pissed in it?" I gagged

"Have you two tasted piss before?" Peter asked

Terrence shot him a glare and I remained pokerfaced.

"So you have?" Peter gasped

Terrence shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not," he replied

"Anyway, should we have a look 'round after this?" Carmen asked quickly in order to get our minds away from the subject of drinking piss.

I nodded.

"Sure, we need to get our bearings and find out more about this place. The sooner we do that, the better life here will be.

Terrence nodded in agreement.

"We can find rooms for hire and maybe somewhere for us to-"

There was a sudden loud chime of what sounded like a church bell that cut Terrence off. I passed it off as maybe a wedding bell or a mass service beginning or ending. But from the reactions from the people in the bar, I was wrong.

They all started flocking out of the bar in bundles mumbling in low voices to each other. Had something really bad happened, a funeral procession or something? Or maybe their leader had died?

The four of us looked around in confusion as if to ask whether or not we should follow. Terrence shrugged before nodding and standing up.

"What the hell's going on?" Carmen asked as I stood up

"That's what we're going to find out," I replied

We abandoned our drinks and walked out of the empty bar and out into the streets. The clouds had become darker in colour since we had originally got there as it looked like it was threatening to absolutely piss it down. Maybe we should hold back on exploring until tomorrow?

Crowds of people lined the pavement and an angry murmur buzzing around like a swarm of angry bees. There was a certain look on everyone's faces a mix of disappointment, irritation, and a slight look of viciousness.

"There are less of them than before. That's more of our taxes down the gutter," one of them growled

I looked up and saw a procession of horses walk slowly and carefully down the street whilst the crowds hissed and buzzed with low contempt.

Soon, the main part of the procession walked past us. The mutterings seemed to get louder and the jeering became more prominent.

Men and women in green cloaks on horseback rode through the streets with high heads, yet the various leers definitely affected them as some would occasionally twitch and glance nervously in the direction that the voices were coming from. Some of them had bandages wrapped securely around various appendages. Some of them had missing limbs and blood oozing out of the bandages that replaced their limbs. The ones who weren't sporting bandages wore expressions of regret and looked as if they were on the verge of breaking down and others looked completely drained of all emotion. There were men and women in carriages who looked like they had failed at everything.

The most disturbing part of this procession was the cart that were piled with unmoving human figures wrapped in bloodstained sheets. The ones that had made it through were pulling along their burden, yet the crowd took no notice. They were like sharks, they saw blood and they attacked viciously.

"Ha, look, they can't even make eye contact with us!" one member of the crowd yelled

"No wonder, look at the amount of soldiers that haven't come back,"

"The Survey Corps have come back with less soldiers than ever. Bravo!"

Survey Corps? The military? Of course, every dystopian future has to have its military but those books have military personnel who oppress the common folk and do anything for power and money. Most soldiers in dystopian novels are the enforcers of the bourgeoisie in a somewhat Marxist society, yet this military was defeated. They were a lost cause that inflicted no absolute power over everyone. It was more like the people in the crowd that were inflicting the pain and humiliation. It was depressing how they were openly being mocked for having members of their organization killed in action and how little people cared about it.

But with what and against who?

"The titans sure got them this time," sniggered another

"Titans, like the Tennessee Titans?" Peter asked dumbly

Carmen elbowed him.

"Now's not the time for joking," she hissed

Who were these titans?

My eyes widened.

From what the Minute Man said to me, this is what was lurking outside the 'cave'. The 'cave' being the walls that everyone was hiding behind. The philosopher wasn't one man that had been liberated, but a group of men and women that were seeking truth in the world of illusions.

That truth must be what's lurking in the world of these so-called 'titans'.

Were these 'titans' a group of rebels that threatened to disrupt the peace that had been contained within the walls? If that were the case, that would mean that the titans are like the incline before the truer, purer world.

In order to accomplish whatever the hell I had been sent here to do, I would have to join this disgruntled army and fight the 'titans' no matter how scary or threatening they were. I had years of training to add to my weaponry, whatever training they had to offer would be a piece of cake. I was one of the best marksmen in SOSO. I could discover my purpose for being sent here.

"So this is why I'm here," Terrence gasped

My eyes widened in shock as I turned and faced him.

"You came to that conclusion too?" I asked

He nodded quickly.

"The Allegory of the Cave," was all he said

That meant that we were to live in the training barracks (wherever they were) and work as soldiers who killed 'titans' for a living. This had come together perfectly.

Almost too perfectly.

We suddenly appear in a dystopian future with no idea as to where we were, who was with us or what we were really supposed to do. Then suddenly the soldiers come out and now we have our drive. There was something in me that said that this was too good to be true.

But it was my only clue which pointed me in the right direction.

I felt a drop of water fall on my forehead. I looked up and saw the grey clouds had become so much darker than they were before and it was not long until more raindrops started falling from the sky until it started to hammer it down.

"Let's get back inside, quickly!" Terrence yelled

I wasted no time in turning towards the inn and running through the door into the comforting warmth of the inside of the inn.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Thank you for reading this and putting up with me.

Comments and criticism are always appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

The rain outside obscured our view of the cobbled path and stalls that was outside our window. People running to shelter were a mere smudge of colour on a grey background as they rushed past whilst attempting to cover their heads. Their yells were incoherent as the rain smacked against the ground creating a chorus of splats and pitter-patters that became rougher and noisier depending on if the wind was blowing roughly or not.

The inside of the inn had become very crowded as people had successfully escaped the rain after the gory procession that had trundled down the streets not too long ago. The atmosphere was warm and inviting even though they had just seen the results of failed mission made by the military. It was like everyone had forgotten what they had just seen and everything was normal.

"Jesus, I didn't think it was going to piss it down that hard," Terrence muttered as he stared out of the small window by our table.

I hummed in agreement before taking a sip of my pissy cider.

Carmen was staring out the window with very little emotion in her eyes. She wasn't staring at anything in particular but she seemed lost in thought and deep in contemplation. Her hands were clasped together with her head resting on them.

"How're you guys not affected by that?" Carmen asked absently

Terrence shrugged.

"I guess I've become desensitised to death. I used to do aid work in a hospital in Ghana, you see so many dead bodies that you can't tell the difference between sleeping, comatose or dead unless you look or listen close for their heartbeat. The lack of equipment meant that anyone who had a serious injury or illness had little to no chance of making it out of the hospital," Terrence said melancholically as he looked down at his hands that were clasped around his cup

The thought of the hospital seemed to have caused him some distress, so I didn't try to push him into talking about his experience in the hospital.

"That's terrible!" Carmen gasped,

Again, Terence shrugged. His face was unreadable as he glanced to the side as if to escape the looks of gloom on Carmen and Peter's faces.

'Why did I even accept to live here if all I'm going to do is die?' I asked myself

I knew the Minute Man wanted me to join the army. It was easy enough to figure out, hell, even Terrence had an idea as to what we had been sent here for: to help this humanity outside the 'cave' and fight the 'titans', which, now thinking about it was absolutely terrifying.

'Maybe it would have been easier to have stayed on the plane and died along with everyone else,' I thought sadly to myself.

I don't know what caused it. The dead bodies being dragged along the streets or maybe the intimacy of the group conversation or my new found fear of this world that had started to gnaw at me. But I could feel myself start to mentally remove myself from the conversation as I glanced out of the window and saw that the rain was hammering down faster and harder than before.

 _The coldness of the grey skies made me shiver as if I could feel the cold wet droplets of water fall heavily on my face and the shower of water drench my clothes and weighing them down making them tight and uncomfortable._

 _In my imagination, I was alone._

 _The bar and the jovialness of its atmosphere was miles away, lost in another pocket of the universe. The only thing in my imagination was my drenched body standing in an empty cobbled street with every bit of warmth flooding out of my body and being replaced by a numbingly cold sensation running up and down my body. This numbness ran through my bloodstream and I could feel every soft thud of my heart pump more and more numbness around me and into my organs, muscles, in my bone marrow._

 _What scared me was how real it felt. It was like I wasn't truly me but a shell wearing the clothes I had purchased that day. I felt all energy being drained from my body but I was too tired to sink to the ground and fall asleep. I could only stand and stare in engrossment at the cobbled pavement that shone like brass and silver as raindrop after fat raindrop splattered upon its surface._

 _The pressure of a hand was placed on my shoulder. The hand was warm and steady. It was comforting and gentle._

 _I placed my hand on top of theirs in an attempt to spread the warmth from their hands around my body, yet as soon as my hands touched theirs, the warmth and comfort vanished along with the hand. I turned to see nobody there._

 _My eyes widened with fear._

 _Who was that?_

 _Where did they go?_

 _I felt tears fill my eyes as I was left alone in the rain. Whoever was comforting me had vanished and now that hope that light that had been offered had been snatched from me. It was like I had been given a gift only for it to be taken from me, leaving me in desolation._

 _I suddenly felt the world start to shake quickly, causing all of the buildings around me to shake and shudder with every violent tremor. The streets started to crumble under my feet leaving me with little leverage until…_

"Oi, Charlotte. You even listening or is the table more interesting?" Terrence asked as he shook me lightly

I jolted and looked at him.

I was no longer chilled to the bone. The fire and the sharing of body heat in the packed bar had been warming me all along. The coldness that I felt was possibly a figment of my imagination. The heavy feeling of my clothes weighing me down was just my subconscious going wild as I zoned out.

 _But it felt so real,_ was all I could think to myself.

I blinked a few times and nodded before taking another sip of pissy cider.

The jolliness in the room was almost overwhelming. Laughs, guffaws, wooden cups slamming onto wooden tables, the over-exaggerated shriek and giggle of a barmaid as a drunkard grasps her behind.

"Dirty boy!" she cackled

"I got more where that came from, love," he yawped as he pulled her onto his lap causing her to shriek and giggle like a child. The men at the table and men from different tables chortled and hollered at the somewhat sexual act before them. The barmaid's cheeks started glowing like Christmas lights as she became flustered.

"I'm on duty!" she exclaimed as she squirmed off his lap in a fit of forced giggles

"Maybe after your shift, you might want to come home with me," he growled in what was supposed to be a low sexy growl but came out like a slurred burbled mess as he gave a small slap to her bottom.

She scurried off behind the bar with tears in her eyes.

I looked over at the guy who seemed to be jesting among his friends about his fruitless attempt at bedding the barmaid.

"Fat cunt," Terrence growled as he glared at the drunkard,

"I agree," I muttered

Terrence suddenly pushed his chair back and it clattered to the floor, making some people on neighbouring tables to glance around and see what all the noise was about before going back to their drinks.

Terrence was clenching his fists and his eyes had narrowed so much that I could barely see them. I sensed that Terrence was going to do something rash, something that was probably going to get him kicked out, but in the heat of the moment, he didn't care.

I wasn't going to stop him. I agreed that the guy should get a public beating for what he just did, but I wasn't going to fly into a rage over it. Call me a bitch who doesn't stand up for my fellow women or call me a gutless cunt. I've seen sober men do much worse and I've learned after seeing bar fights that start from this kind of behaviour that you need to choose your battles very carefully. Give a drunk man a stern talking to and he probably won't remember what you said in the morning. Beat a drunky to a pulp, by sunrise he'll think he fell down the stairs. It's the harsh reality that some people don't see.

I think after anyone's seen a sober man rape, kill, and torture for the hell of it will think that although the barmaid may hate her job, become depressed, hate all men, and may turn to illicit substances to try and forget every grope, slap, touch, and maybe even lick she had received, there were women and even men that had yet to go off the rails after being molested or raped as they bottle it up and try to live life like a normal person.

I'm not saying the woman has no right to be upset or that the guy didn't deserve for me to break my foot off in his arse, I'm saying that there are some causes that may be slightly worth more getting bloodied over than others. This wasn't one of them.

The best thing to do would have been to tell the barman and get that guy barred and comfort the barmaid if she isn't being comforted already, maybe ask her if she wants to quit her job if this kind of thing happens a lot and help her find another if she's uncomfortable working there. Any attempt to punish him would be done in vain.

But should I stop Terrence? Probably.

Even if he believes that this is the righteous thing to do and his actions are justifiable? Again probably.

But Terrence stands at around 6'8, a huge hulking guy who wouldn't be brought down without a fight. I can disarm men twice my body weight without too much of a struggle but in front of these people, questions will be asked. It will draw unwanted attention, then what would we do?

"What are you doing?" Peter asked quickly

"Teaching that brute a lesson. You can't do that to a woman!" Terrence snarled as he turned around and started sauntering over to the table.

"Terrence stop!" Carmen hissed

But Terrence paid no heed as his steps became louder and quicker as his rage got the better of him. His loud thundering steps caught the attention of pretty much everyone in the bar as they turned and gawped at the giant getting closer and closer to the drunkard.

The atmosphere shifted into one filled with excitement. The excitement at the thought of a bar fight and Terrence's adrenalin seemed to also pump around the air as his breaths got quicker as he got closer and closer. The air started to echo with the loud cheers and low murmurs of the people in the bar placing bets and joining sides.

"Someone stop him!" Carmen yelled

I shrugged as I stared on at the oncoming brawl,

"It's his choice and one that I somewhat support, I'm not going to stop him unless he gets hurt," I replied as I took a sip of my drink.

Carmen's eyes widened,

"Surely-"

"You think you can treat a woman like that, huh? You fucking little shit!" Terrence bellowed as he grasped the shirt of the drunkard

Gasps and hoots filled the room as the drunkard laughed before kicking Terrence in the shins. The kick didn't seem to affect Terrence as Terrence got closer to his face until they were almost nose to nose.

"Do that to another woman and I will break your fucking spine with my bare hands, get it?" Terrence growled

"Ohhh, what do we have here? You think you scare me, big boy? Well, you don't. Why don't you join that whore behind the bar and suck my cock," the drunk giggled

"You're really fucking disgusting, you know that, right? I wouldn't even touch your tiny, diseased dick with a six foot stick!" Terrence retorted

"Diseased, huh? You think my dick is diseased and small? Well, how could I have been able to make half the women here scream with a 'small diseased cock'?"

"They're faking it so that you'll finish up quicker,"

Burn.

The man growled as his friends and strangers hooted and jeered at him. Jokes about the drunkard's 'diseased dick' and 'quick finishes' spread around and caught on like wild fire, setting the room ablaze with a sinister jovialness that could end at any second.

The man looked at Terence with a face of thunder and quickly leaned in as if he was going to kiss Terrence and sunk his yellowing and slightly rotted teeth into Terrence's slightly crooked nose.

Terrence yelled incoherently in shock.

"What the fuck!?" Terrence yelped

The man wasn't letting Terrence's nose go anytime soon as he wrapped his arms around Terrence's neck as he jumped back in utter shock. Although Terrence was a huge athletic build, nothing could have prepared him to be bitten on the nose and the weight of the man caused Terrence to fall backwards and hit the ground with the drunkard on top.

Terrence was shouting something but his words were lost under the buzzing atmosphere of the bar.

"Come on you giant! Beat his ass to a pulp!" one man yelled at Terrence

"Kev, stop! Let go of his nose before he does you in!" one of the drunkards friends yelled

I lost sight of what was happening as the crowd gathered in a circle around the two brawlers, leaving everything that was happening to the imagination. Slams, bangs, thuds were all concealed by the crowds cheers and yells of encouragement.

All hell was breaking loose as the barman got out from behind the bar and stormed through the crowd, letting me see a bit of both men on floor. The drunkard was on top of Terrence with his mouth still on Terrence's nose, yet Terrence was punching the drunkard in the face over and over again.

The barman stormed over and grabbed the drunkard that was on top of Terrence and threw him into a table. The grasp he had on Terrence's nose didn't decrease and as he was thrown, a chunk of Terrence's nose was ripped off and started bleeding profusely.

Terrence screamed in pain as his hands flew to his nose.

"Ya', drunky, gerr'ot ma' ba' before I thro' ya ot!" the barman yelled

Of course, I couldn't understand a word that came from his mouth but I guessed it translated to: 'Get out my bar before I throw you out'. But I couldn't be too sure.

I promised to myself to stop the fight if it got out of hand, but there was Terrence, writhing on the floor with his hand protectively covering his nose. I could see blood and lots of it coming out from under his hand. He was growling and yelping and his legs were kicking the ground like a caged animal.

I pushed my way through the crowd and saw Terrence lying on the ground face up and his hand protectively held over his nose. The drunkard was being helped up by his friends, yet wasn't leaving this establishment unscathed. The skin around the drunkard's face was swollen and tender looking and his nose looked bludgeoned and was bleeding profusely, not as much as Terence's, but pretty badly.

I already knew I would need alcohol and a bandage before we find a hospital. A bite from a human always causes a nasty infection as the human mouth contains many harmful pathogens, what makes matters worse is that Terrence would probably need a tetanus shot as in some cases, the human mouth has been known to contain the tetanus pathogen (don't ask me for the medical name, I have no clue) which could lead to Terrence's death by suffocation or cardiac arrest.

Terrence would have to go to a hospital to get his nose properly looked over.

 _If there are any hospitals._

I knelt beside Terrence and gently took a hold of his arm and carefully pulled his arm away from his nose so that I could get a closer look and perhaps try and stop too much blood loss and infection with the basic first aid knowledge that I had.

Once Terrence realised that I was trying to take the protection of his arm away from his nose, he growled and tried to kick, yet his movements were sloppy and not well thought out as I caught his leg and slammed it down on the floor.

"Keep still," I growled

Terrence grunted in response and tried to swing at me with his meaty arm that wasn't protecting his nose, but again, it was sloppy and not well thought out. It was easy to grab his arm and twist it, not enough to cause a sprain, but enough to hurt like hell.

Terence yelped in pain before I felt his arm slacken, so I let go of it, making it fall limply on Terrence's abdomen.

"Do that again and I will twist your arm so hard, it will come out of its fucking socket. Keep. Still," I hissed

Terrence seemed to have been in shock by my words, so his whole body seemed to slacken, making it easy for me to see the damage that had come to Terrence's nose.

I gently pulled his arm away from his face and found myself having to bite my cheek to stop myself from gagging. Bile was starting to creep up my oesophagus as I focused on not just Terrence's nose, but his entire face.

Most of his nose had been ripped off. Blood was flooding from his nose like an over flowing man hole in a street. Blood was running down his cheeks, lips, and chin. But the force had made blood splatter onto his forehead. His arms were bloodied from holding his nose and blood was still running down his arms like raindrops on a window. There were bits of cartilage sticking out of his nose and the bone just above the nose was exposed. It was like his nose was ground zero and the blood that had splattered was fallen debris that littered the surrounding areas of a city or town or village.

"Fucking hell," I breathed

"How…Bad?" Terrence asked weakly

"I need to stop the bleeding and clean the area," I said tentatively

I turned and looked at the barman in desperation, knowing that I was going to have to work quickly to clean the area before any further damage could come to Terrence.

"Can you get me a bowl of water and a clean cloth," I asked

The barman crossed his arms,

"Wha' if I don't? I was goin' ta throw ya out as ya caused a fuss in mah bar, I don-"

"Get me the stuff I asked for or else I'll sue you for negligence. I saw you standing there doing nothing when you saw the fight break out, don't you think that may sound slightly suspicious in court?" I said incredulously

Of course I wouldn't have the faintest clue how to use the legal system here, but I knew that I could manipulate people with the threat of prosecution. A dirty trick, I know but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Thankfully this scared the barman as I noticed his piggy eyes widened before muttering quickly to himself as he turned around and walked behind the bar. The sound of glass bottles clinking hurriedly together was almost music to my ears.

Carmen and Peter joined me on the floor as the crowds dissipated and went back to what they were doing, whether it be drinking, smoking, or playing cards. They no longer payed heed to our group, it was no longer fun and exciting, no fighting, spitting, hissing. Just a jovial atmosphere like it was before.

Carmen and Peter both looked green around the gills when they saw Terrence's face. Carmen had her hand over her mouth and refused to even look at Terrence. Peter was looking, but he looked like someone had shaded him in with a pencil as colour seemed to drain from his face.

"You're an idiot, Terrence. A really big idiot," Carmen said finally without looking at Terrence

"Hmn," was all Terrence could reply with

"You could've gotten even more hurt than you are!"

"Hmn,"

"I can't believe you would go and do that! What if you'd gotten yourself killed, what would you have done then?"

"Died," Terrence responded

Before Carmen could berate him for his use of sarcasm, the barman returned with a bowl of water and a cloth. He put them beside me and gave me a curt nod before walking back behind the bar.

The cloth seemed relatively clean, so I dipped it into the metal bowl of water, getting it as soaked as possible and sighed.

"Peter, can you prop Terrence's head on your lap," I asked

"Sure," Peter responded hesitantly before gently taking Terrence's head and bringing it up on his knee so that Terrence was now facing me rather than the ceiling, this would make sure that Terrence didn't drown when I squeezed the cloth on Terrence's nose to clean it.

I took the soaking cloth out of the bowl and hesitantly held it slightly above Terrence's nose before squeezing the cloth making Terrence wince only slightly. Once the cloth had gone from soaking to damp, I used the cloth to clean the surrounding areas of his face that had dried blood crusting over.

"Aren't you going to put alcohol on it?" Peter asked

I shook my head.

"That'll make it worse," I said as I continued scrubbing at the dried blood on Terence's face

Rubbing alcohol on a wound can cause scarring of cells and the scarring causes the healing to slow.

"Done," I muttered as I splashed the cloth into the bowl of blood beside me.

Peter looked at Terrence's face and cringed.

"It looks…better?" he said with a slight look of repulsion splayed across his face

"…Cheers," Terrence groaned

Carmen turned and looked at him before quickly turning her head again in disgust. Even I had to admit that Terrence's somewhat charming face had become disfigured and gnarled by the hole ripped in the middle of his face. Thanks to Terrence's hot head and feminist views, he was no longer easy on the eyes and would lead to us getting stared at in the street yet again.

Carmen nudged me,

"Are we gonna take him to hospital?" she asked

I nodded

"That is if there's one around, if not…" I trailed off

His nose would need to be seen by a professional, yet I had a queasy feeling that that was not going to happen as I imagined a witch doctor type professional who would use roses and posies in order to cure diseases and ailments. That, or this doctor would summon spirits and maybe exorcise him if he was lucky.

"We'll take him upstairs to our room. He needs rest," I said before prying Terrence's head off my lap and standing up to take one of Terrence's arms. Peter went around to Terrence's other side and took a hold of that arm.

Together, we pried him off the ground with a series of grunts and curses coming from all three of us as we steadily made our way from the bar to the stairs, to the second floor, and finally, to our room.

Once Peter unlocked the door, we walked over to Terrence's bed and laid him down with his face to the side, so that he didn't choke on his own blood if a clot were to be made.

"My…fucking…nose," Terrence groaned

Carmen sat on the bed next to him and started to stroke his clammy forehead whilst hushing and humming a relaxing tune to him. Terrence seemed to calm down slightly as his groans turned into soft whimpers before turning into snores.

"What do we do now?" Carmen asked as she stared out of the grey window

I shrugged.

There wasn't any proper entertainment like TV's or radios. We could go back downstairs into the bar, but what was the fun in that? Being surrounded by pissed old men who only seemed to harass anything with breasts. In short, there was nothing to do. I mean, I had my laptop in my bag with a few films and shows on it, but there was a load of personal and top secret shit on there.

 _'But who would leak that and how?'_

That question gnarled itself in my brain and startled me. It wasn't exactly like there was a way for anyone to leak this information, and it strangely made me feel more isolated. There was no one after me, no one waiting for me. No one here. My home. My friends were gone. Universes away. Timelines apart. This paralysing thought burrowed into my chest and for a second, I thought I had died as my heart seemed to skip several beats, before I felt my stomach tighten in utter dread.

"Hey, Charlotte. You ok?" Peter asked as he put a hand on my shoulder

"Um, yeah, I'm just thinking," was all I could muster before making my way to my bed and collapsing on it. I needed sleep, everything was collapsing in on me and I needed a quick escape. Even if it was just for fifteen minutes.

"I'm just… tired," I mumbled before shutting my eyes

I couldn't be asked to pull the covers over me, even if there was a slight nip in the air, I let myself be swept over by my exhaustion and felt a blackness drag me into its depths as my breathing became more even and my mind went blank.

It was hours later that I felt my eyes open from my dreamless state. For about five minutes, I was wondering where I was and why the room stunk of hay and sewage before bluntly remembering the events of the day.

I sighed in anguish when I realised that this wasn't some fever dream. I hadn't been caught by the government official that I had uncovered to have been funding a human trafficking ring which would have been a slightly better situation as I would have had a good idea as to how to get out of it. But this… this was an idea that was almost alien to me. I had no hope, no experience of going into some other multiverse. I was trapped. Stuck. Shit.

I noticed the warmth of a body lying next to me and tentatively reached out my fingers until they met with the silken curls of a woman's hair. From the sound of her heavy breathing, she was in a deep sleep and she sighed slightly as my fingers travelled down her curls as if they were a part of a brush.

Carmen.

That was her name.

And from my slightly fuzzy memory, I remembered that there were two guys in the bed opposite us. Terrence: the Scottish hipster, and Peter: the soft spoken Chinese guy.

I realised that I had been tucked under the covers, probably by Carmen and I was still dressed the clothes I was wearing before I had fallen asleep. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, so I sat up and reached around until I found my phone. Once my fingers came into contact with the smooth glass surface of my phone, I picked it up and located the home screen.

I groaned in slight agony as the screen brightness was on full blast, causing me to flinch and squint my eyes. Once I had recovered, I looked at the home screen to see that I had a few new notifications. I unlocked my phone to see that the date and time had changed with my new location. I tapped on the clock app and tapped on the bottom left of the screen where it said 'World Clock'.

Instead of seeing what country and the time zone I was using, a message flashed across my screen:

APPLE INC CANNOT IDENTIFY YOUR EXACT LOCATION.

WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCES.

My brow furrowed as I read and re-read the message on my screen. It couldn't tell me where I was, yet the time at the top of my screen read 9:15pm. This was going to be one long night.

I tapped out of my clock and tapped at the top of my screen to see a flood of messages. My brow furrowed as I checked my messages. All of them sent at the same time. All of them shocking and gut wrenching to read.

From: Thalia

I hope this is a joke. They must've gotten the planes mixed up. You can't be dead.

From: Joe

Don't be dead. Please let this be a huge prank.

From: Mark

They found an arm in the wreckage that they believe to be yours. I can't believe you've really gone.

Holy shit it was yours.

From: Marie

RIP Charlie. I will never forget you. I don't know how I'm going to cope without you. The funeral's in a few days. Please, pop out of the coffin and say it was just a prank. I won't be mad. Just come back.

Why were all of these messages sent at the same time? How were they received? I had no service or 3G. What the actual hell. According to Mark, my arm was found in the wreckage, yet I felt both arms and could move them perfectly well.

The dizzying reality seemed to be collapsing in on me and I felt myself lie back down and my eyes sting with tears. Everyone was asleep, so I doubted I would wake anyone up with my sobs. I don't know how long I was curled up with tears flooding from my eyes and snot pouring from my nose, but in that moment, I felt so…alone.

My friends had sent me messages, believing I was dead, yet here I was reading them. Were they dead? Was I in the distant future or something as well as an alternate timeline?

No, that type of thinking would just make me feel worse.

I needed a drink. Something strong to wash down the images in my head of my friends having to look on at my coffin covered by the Union flag in a ceremony in the onsite church. I have only ever been to the funeral of one spy in my career, and that had to be one of the most depressing ceremonies I have ever had to sit through.

Every agent in the church has to go up to the coffin and salute it. Their right hand over their mouth and their left behind their back. Even the higher ups pay their respects before the coffin is taken out to the churchyard and buried.

I slowly got up and wiped my nose and eyes with the sleeves of my blouse before feeling around on the floor for my shoes. Once my feet came into contact with my shoes, I slid them on before grabbing my phone and turning on the torch.

I didn't have any money on me, but I didn't want to steal any money from the pouch. I had a few pound coins in my bag that I could attempt to use as currency, if not, then I guess I'd attempt to go back to sleep without liquid assistance.

I grabbed my backpack and shone my torch on it as I silently rummaged through my bag for my purse. Once my fingers came into contact with the smooth leather of my purse, I pulled it out. For a second, it felt extremely heavy and when I inspected it, it seemed to be bursting at the seams, full of coins. I was carrying my card, a few pound notes and coins, and a couple of yuan notes.

"What the fuck?" I murmured before unzipping the purse

Multiple gold, silver, and bronze coins clattered noisily to the floor. Coins that I don't remember putting into my purse in the first place. How the hell did they get into my purse? I looked into the pocket that held my notes, but the notes had been replaced with coins. My bank card had also vanished and was replaced with around eight what looked like silver coins, but upon closer inspection, were in fact platinum.

No way. This was impossible.

How in God's name could my money be replaced with a horde of coins?

Was it him that did it? The philosophical bastard?

After the initial shock, I decided that an alcoholic beverage was indeed needed.

I pocketed a few bronze and silver coins and collected the coins that had fallen to the floor and shoved them into my bag before zipping up my purse and forcing it deeply into the crevices of my bag. Once that was done, I made sure that the sound of the coins didn't wake anyone before walking out of the room.

Once I had climbed down the stairs, I noticed that there were a few people in the bar. Some of them were wearing what looked like the uniform of the men and women from earlier but without the cloaks and a different emblem on their backs. The ones from earlier had a blue and white pattern on them, whereas these guys had a rose pattern on their backs.

I walked over to the bar to see a different barman. This guy was smaller in stature, but still pretty muscular with tanned skin and longish black hair.

"Hey, what can I get you?" the barman asked once I had approached the bar

"What's the strongest you've got?" I asked

The barman turned his back and flickered through the different beverages he had before tapping one particular bottle and turning back to me:

"This stuff is known as Poitin. I'm pretty sure they use potatoes to make this, but it's ridiculously strong, about 75% if that's what you're looking for,"

"Sure," I replied

The barman grabbed a tumbler and poured a bit of the amber liquid in before handing it to me.

"That'll be five bronze,"

I dug into my pocket and counted five bronze coins before handing them to him.

"Thanks,"

I noticed the two soldiers and sauntered over to them. For a moment, I forgot why exactly I was doing that before I faintly remembered yesterday. The mission the man had hinted at. To explore beyond the boundaries of the walls and to set people free.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" I asked

One of the soldiers looked up and smiled slightly before nodding.

"Sure,"

I took a stool out and sat opposite the two men. Well, one of them looked slightly younger than me. Maybe seventeen or eighteen, whereas the soldier that gestured me to sit with them looked slightly older than me, maybe mid to late twenties.

"So, what's your name?" the older one asked

"Charlotte, yours?"

"I'm Hunfrid, and this pipsqueak is my brother, Kulbart, it's nice to meet you, Charlotte," Hunfrid said as he patted his brother's shoulder.

I took a sip of my drink and felt the burn of the alcohol fill my mouth before burning its way down my throat, setting fire to my stomach in a pleasant way. But the high percentage seemed to make its way to my head, not in a way that made me immediately intoxicated, but it gave me a light buzz that I usually got after a shot of vodka.

"So, what brings you over to our table, Miss Charlotte?" Kulbart piped

"I was wondering about this place. I'm from a village outside…here," I cursed as I had forgotten the name of the town we had arrived in, I was tempted to say Trust, but I knew that wasn't it "and I was wondering if you could tell me more about this town?"

Hunfrid nodded and laughed,

"You don't sound like you're from one of those 'hunting villages', but my brother and I would be glad to help you get your bearings and everything, what do you need to know?"

I thought for a few moments about what we saw earlier. The soldiers that walked through the streets, what were they fighting again? Ah yes, titans.

"What are the 'titans'?" I asked

Both brothers seemed to gasp slightly and take quick sips of their drinks, almost in sync. One of the brothers, Kulbart looked down at his feet, whereas Hunfrid looked at me solemnly.

"You really are out of the loop, aren't you?" Hunfrid murmured

If this was a soldier's reaction to the titans, then how come everyone here is so…calm? I get that soldiers see more things than the average Joe, but surely, they must know about the titans in newspapers or something? Or is this place run by some government that wishes to keep their citizens in perpetual darkness. Always covering over potential plots and shutting up anyone that has this information who isn't military personnel through violence and imprisonment?

Or was I mistaking the ruler of this country for a totalitarian dictator?

"I'm so sorry if I've-"I gushed

"It's fine. I guess we've never really been asked about them, like people never really want to know because they're happy in their ignorance, and I understand that. But when you see them, like really see them do you understand how terrifying they really are and how feckless the Survey Corps have to be to fight these things," Kulbart said quietly

I furrowed my brow slightly as I took another small sip.

"Things," I mused to myself, yet the brothers seemed to hear

There was a small pause before Hunfrid spoke up,

"They're not human, they may be shaped like a human and walk around like a human, but they're not. They're fucking tall, I'm talking like three to fifteen metres tall with really big mouths that can easily…fit a person in. That's what they do, well try to do; they eat people. No remorse, no nothing. Mindless bastards that roam around outside the walls, just trying to get in and wipe out humanity,"

Giants. That's what's outside?

For a moment, I thought he was trying to humour me and create this cannibalistic group into something scarier to make him sound braver, or to trick me into believing something that wasn't real for kicks. But from the terrified looks on both of their faces, I came to realise that they were telling the truth. If it was a joke, I would have noticed a smirk or eye contact between the brothers, but nothing. They seemed dazed and caught in an almost dreamlike state of terror.

"You've…seen them?" I hesitantly asked

Both brothers nodded.

"We were guarding the walls around Shinganshina when we looked down and saw them clawing at the wall. All of them looked so hungry and when they saw us, they became frenzied and started clawing at the wall even harder, some of them were shrieking incoherently and we were forced to use the cannons on them, to stop the residents of Shinganshina from hearing the commotion and panicking, after that, I changed regiments to Trost. Some of the soldiers in Shinganshina get drunk on their shifts and don't seem to take anything seriously, but I'd rather them than us," Hunfrid explained

I still couldn't quite grasp the fact that there were real fucking giants outside these walls, barriers of bricks were used as a blockade, but how long would it last? Surely, one day this wall will become so worn that it would just give and collapse, letting the giants in. Giants are supposed to be fantasy creatures, they don't belong in reality.

'But isn't this your new reality?' a small voice inside of me sneered

If this was my new reality and I was supposed to help set people free, then I guess I needed to conform. After all, it' something that's more hands on and obvious. How was I helping to free people if I was just standing on a wall firing cannons, not exploring the outside world?

"Where do I sign up?" I asked as I took a sip of my drink

"Huh?" both brothers seemed to say in sync

"Where do I go to sign up for the military? I want to join, I want to help, I want to fight," I said eagerly

Perhaps too eager as both men started laughing.

"I didn't know they bred freaks in the villages. It's like you weren't listening to us, like it would be safer to keep your head down and do nothing, unless you get into the top ten and join the MP's,"

"What about the Survey Corps?"

Hunfrid spluttered.

"You want to join those suicidal blockheads?"

I chuckled.

"I'd like to think you're underestimating me. I want to join, so tell me where and I'll leave you be," I said as I took a final sip of my drink

Kulbart shrugged,

"You're in luck, tomorrow at the Trost military headquarters, you can go sign up and a wagon will take you to the Training Corps centre, there you'll spend three years learning how to fight titans before either choosing to fight them head on or serve the king. Either way, I'd sleep on a decision like that,"

I smiled politely.

"Thank you for your help, but don't need to sleep on this decision. Oh, but before I go on up to bed, where is the military headquarters?" I asked

Hunfrid pointed straight on.

"You follow that road and you'll see a huge building with the three military emblems on it. Just go in through the main entrance, and someone'll take you to the wagon. Wagon leaves at midday, so be there by around nine thirty in the morning so they can give you your uniform and belts,"

I stood up from my stool with a slight waver in my step, thanks to the liquid luck of the drink. I wasn't going to be hungover tomorrow morning, probably thirsty and slightly groggier than usual, but ok nonetheless.

"Thanks again!" I said as I started walking towards the stairs

"What a weirdo," I thought I heard from one of the guys, but I ignored it. I needed a goodnights sleep and to inform the group tomorrow morning.

I wondered how they would take it. Terrence seemed up for it and completely understood. Carmen and Peter would either come or not. Either way, it was their choice if they were going to come with us or not and if they weren't up for it, I was willing to go alone.

Then I forgot that Terrence was injured. Damn it. I mean there was always another time to sign up, but what if I got cold feet and decided not to do this? We'd find a hospital, ask around since I doubted that the brothers wanted to talk to me, I huffed as I got to the landing as my ideas seemed to be deflating with my tiredness and realisation as to how selfish and thoughtless I could be.

As I entered the room, I noticed that the place where Terrence was sleeping was lit up by a dim light that was coming from an oil lamp.

"Terence?" I asked tentatively

"Charlotte where have you been?" he asked hurriedly

"I got a drink downstairs. What's wrong? Has your nose gotten any worse?" I asked

There was a silence before I walked over to Terrence's dimly lit figure. Once I got to him, I gasped and took several steps back.

This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. There was no way that was possible.

"Your nose… it's…"

"Grown back," Terrence finished before running his fingers over his newly formed nose.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this. I know I haven't been active for a while but schoolwork got in the way and I couldn't really update. But I'm back now and I hope I can update on a monthly basis (fingers crossed) but I can't make any promises.


	4. Chapter 4

"This can't be real. This can't be fucking real!" I muttered to both myself and Terrence

I had turned all of the lamps in the room on, just to make sure that Terrence's nose wasn't some illusion. The dim lights clearly illuminated Terrence's perfectly healed nose without a splodge of blood in sight.

Terrence gulped as he nervously ran his fingers against his fixed nose. There was no trace of an injury, no scarring or inflammation. It had healed in a matter of hours, when in our world, the real world, this type of shit doesn't even happen with plastic surgery.

"I know. I know," was all Terrence muttered

I had told him about the money in my purse, how my coins, notes, and cards had been turned into this world's currency. This had freaked Terrence out as when he looked around for his wallet in his bag, the same had happened to him. All of his 'real world' money had been turned into a range of different coins.

I sat down beside him before taking a deep breath:

"You remember we both had that realisation earlier to, you know, help free humanity?"

Terrence nodded.

"Briefly," he replied

"You're going to find this completely fucking mental, but I spoke to some soldiers in the bar and they explained what the titans are," I said slowly

Terrence sat up,

"And what are they?" he inquired

"Giants. The titans are man-eating giants that live outside the wall," I replied shakily

The thought of giants still didn't sit right with me, but after seeing Terrence's nose completely fix itself after being torn off his face and the faces of the soldiers explaining what the titans were, I had little to doubt. The impossible has become possible, and this situation that I had gotten myself into, what our group has gotten into was possibly more dangerous than we first thought it would be.

Terrence shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.

"Giants, huh? Fuck me, that can't be possible," he murmured

I gulped nervously,

"You should've seen the soldiers at the bar. They weren't drunk or high or anything, it…they were terrified to talk to me about them, the giants I mean," I stammered

Terrence grunted and stretched his arms behind his back and a few 'clicks' came from his back. Terrence sighed in relief and brought his arms back around himself.

"You're sure they weren't trying to trick you or anything?"

"Why would they do that? Even if it was because I was an outsider, what would they gain from it? Remember when we saw the…bodies being towed through the streets and the remainder of soldiers? Why would they lie about something like this if they need people to fight these things?" I asked

Terrence shrugged.

"I…I don't know but whatever's going on, it all just feels like a bad trip, y'know? Like this feels so real, but it can't be…it can't be," Terrence sighed heavily and sniffed

I silently agreed with him and wrapped my arm around him. Sometimes, we all need comfort when things seem to be moving too quickly and when reality feels miles away, just having someone to help slow things down can bring clarity and make things just that slightly bit easier.

Terrence took one of my arms that was slung around his shoulder and gently held it.

I've always found it astonishing how daunting situations can pull people together, creating binds and connections that can take years to form. The basic human need for comfort and warmth can do astonishing things like that.

"I know this may be too soon to ask, but you know that subliminal mission we were given, you know, the fallacy of the cave, freeing humanity, and whatnot?" I asked

Terrence nodded and looked at me.

"What of it?" he asked

"The military are recruiting tomorrow morning and taking the recruits to train at some trainee corps camp. I was wondering if-"

"I'd be willing to go?"

I nodded.

Terrence nodded his head and swallowed a bit of saliva before opening his mouth.

"I would. If that brings us closer to the truth, and possibly out of here, then I'm in," he replied

I unwrapped my arms from around his shoulders and sat on my hands.

"Do you think these two will be coming with us? It's…short notice to say the least, so if they do say no, what should we do?" I asked as my gaze flickered between the dimly lit sleeping figures of Peter and Carmen.

Terrence sat in silence and shrugged before shaking his head.

"I guess we leave them. Give 'em some of the money in our wallets and let them find a place to stay I guess. Charlotte, it's all happening too quickly I… I don't know, if anything, we should at least try and convince them to come with us," he replied

I shivered. We went from 'we have to stick together' to 'I guess we could leave them', which made me mentally take a step back and try and analyse this mess we were in and why the hell we were so determined to join the army. There was something…unnatural about the intent, as if there was some form of extreme hypnosis involved. But that couldn't be the case as I know first-hand how hypnosis and brainwashing works, and only in fantasy novels does this form of hypnosis exist.

Oh.

That man, no, that thing. He was the one that ingrained this idea of freeing the people in my head, and possibly Terrence's, but for what cause? Why would he want us to freely risk our lives without any proper thought? Surely he wanted us to live, right? I wanted Carmen and Peter to come with us, I really did, but even I seemed slightly disappointed at the thought of being almost held back by them.

"Well, according to the lads downstairs, we'll need to be at the military headquarters by half nine tomorrow morning, so should we be up at around half seven?" I asked

"You know where this place is?"

I nodded.

"We keep walking straight from the entrance, apparently it's easy to find,"

"Sounds alright,"

I looked over again at Carmen and Peter and just hoped that they would be alright with this plan as my eyes started to feel heavier from the drink from earlier.

"I'll set an alarm for seven, we should at least try and get some more sleep before tomorrow. If you can't, the bar has this really strong drink, I can't honestly remember what it's called, but just ask for their strongest," I said as I walked over to my own bed and took off my shoes before laying down on the bed and pulling the thin material duvet over me.

"Cheers," Terrence grumbled as I heard him shift into bed

I closed my eyes and drifted into yet another dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I was awoken by the sound of running water splashing rapidly onto the wooden floor. Sure enough when I groggily sat up with a slight headache, Terrence stood there with his hand on the wall.

"Charming," I grumbled as I started getting out of bed.

Terrence flinched before shaking and putting his trousers on properly so that his dick wasn't hanging out.

"Oh, sorry," was all he said

I tutted as, to my horror, I realized we had nothing to sanitize our hands with. No soap, running water, nothing. I shifted as I stood up when I noticed the uncomfortable sensation of my own bladder being filled.

"I need a piss," I said as I walked over to the hay and just stared at it in disgust.

"I'm not looking or listening," said Terrence as he put electric blue earphones in

I hummed as I squatted and took my first piss. Not really anything worth mentioning, but it was like a milestone. Like the first time you step into a new apartment or your first kiss with your current partner. Nothing flashy or special, but something you make note of to remember.

After I had finished, I wiped my hands on my shirt as a way of 'washing' them before walking back over to the bed and stripping myself of the clothes I wore to bed and putting on the olive green dress I had bought the day before. Noticing how well it fit, I smoothed it down and twirled a bit, letting the end twist around my legs like a child would.

I looked across the room to the window to see that the sky was a yellow hue from the rising sun with smudges of pink filtering through. I'm not sure why, but it made my heart tighten a bit as I was reminded of…simpler times. I'm not sure how to word it, but times when I didn't have much to worry about.

Now, I'm not sure what I should be worried about.

"Should we wake these two up?" Terrence asked

I nodded before kneeling on the bed and shaking Carmen's shoulder.

"What is it?" Carmen asked groggily

"SHHIIIIITT!" Peter yelled from the other side of the room.

I looked across the room and saw that Terrence had taken a different approach in waking Peter up as Peter was now sat up in bed with Terrence sitting on his legs. I assume Terrence had jumped on them as a way of waking Peter up.

Terrence looked at me and gave me a nod that aid: 'Start talking'.

I took a breath before letting the words form in my brain and letting them smoothly out of my mouth. After all, that was something I was trained to do. Convince others with smooth words and ad-lib what I'm not sure about. Just as long as I make it sound pretty or sexy or cool (depending on who I'm talking to), anything can work.

"I have a feeling you might disagree and try and stop us, but Terrence and I have decided to join the Survey Corps. You remember the soldiers we saw walking through the city yesterday, well, there's this inkling that there's more to why the minute man sent us here and the Survey Corps is the only conclusion we've drawn up and is the one we are certain about. Signing up is today and we've decided that although we've only just gotten here, we have to go. If you guys don't want to come, that's fine, we can give you money to find another place to stay and get your bearings, but please don't try to convince us not to go or that this is a bad idea, because I'm certain that this is what we were sent here for, but if you want to come with us, then pack your things up and be ready by eight," I pronounced

It wasn't exactly Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator speech, but at least we had broken the news to both Carmen and Peter, who were now looking at both Terrence and I as if we were pissing and shitting in the middle of a busy street whilst waving around our middle fingers.

"And do you know who the Survey Corps is fighting?" Carmen asked

Terrence replied for me:

"It's going to sound mental, but it's giants. Man-eating giants that live beyond the walls and are what the Survey Corps are fighting and Charlotte and I thought that it would be best to explore the surrounding areas as well as aid the soldiers, I mean, what else could we do?"

Peter gasped.

"Giants?"

"I know, hard to believe, but you saw the injuries on the soldiers yesterday, they looked a tad extreme to have been made by humans," said Terrence

"How did you find out it was giants living beyond the wall?" Carmen asked

"Charlotte spoke to two soldiers yesterday who, from what she told me, were shaken up at the thought of them,"

There was a heavy silence before Carmen huffed.

"Do you know how dumb you two sound right now? Risking our lives even though we've only just got here? This type of idea needs time and planning and I don't think I can do it," she whispered

I nodded as if I understood the words she was saying, yet it was like I couldn't let them sink in. If Peter wanted to go with us, how could we leave Carmen behind? Would we stay in touch? All of these confused and angry and scared feelings bubbled up inside, yet I kept my composure as I looked to Peter, who was staring at the ground.

"How about you, Peter?" I asked

Peter looked down and shrugged.

"I want to-"

Carmen gasped.

"But I can't leave Carmen on her own, so I'm staying with her, I'm sorry," he whispered

I nodded in return.

"It's ok," was all I said before going onto the ground and finding my backpack.

"Why do you feel the need to do this? Surely from yesterday you know how dangerous it is out there? Why do you want to risk your lives for a cause that you don't even understand?"

Now the group was falling apart. I felt like we were supposed to stay together, but at the same time, maybe it was for the best. I knew that my decision was rushed and that I hadn't properly thought everything through, yet there was this feeling of fulfilment of joining up that didn't seem to sit right with me.

Then it hit me.

The lads from yesterday, the guards, were saying how a small minority join the Survey Corps, the only ones who fight, meaning…

"What if you didn't have to fight the titans with us? Yesterday, when you two were asleep, I talked to these military guys who didn't even properly fight titans, they guarded the wall or something. Look, I don't want to leave you guys alone, I know we've only just met, but maybe this is what we were sent here to do, to fight and protect," I said in a slightly pushy tone

I looked between Carmen and Peter exchanging glances.

"I guess this could be a way of finding stuff out, I mean, I can't live in an inn my whole life, that would just be pathetic, so, I guess I'm in," said Peter

YES! One down, one to go.

"Carmen?"

Carmen rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but I'm not going on suicide missions, just guarding," was all she said before getting out of bed

Everything was now properly falling into place. We all had a drive (some higher than others) and it was going to take us on an adventure, like Bilbo and the dwarves or the Pevencie's except more gruesome and (hopefully) less religious connotations.

I checked the contents of my bag for the first time since coming here, so that I could make room in my bag for my clothes as I didn't want to lug the woven sack around with me and I pulled out: my ebook along with two other books: (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Lolita), a solar panelled charger (YES!), my makeup bag, a hairbrush, a few hair bands and grips, my laptop, toothbrush and toothpaste, tampons, a pair of (granny) pants, a shit tonne of Chinese sweets, my purse, my stuffed cat teddy called Pippin, and SOSO documents (which I didn't take out of my bag).

I grabbed the bag of clothes and rolled them up and stuffed them into my bag before skilfully shoving and fitting my other items in until everything was densely compacted in before closing up my bag and putting it onto the bed.

I made the decision to wear my beige coat in order to stop me from hauling it around with me, but before putting it on, I noticed that my hair was a complete mess and I still had peroxide white hair and pink tips. Not a good look for the army.

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"Has anyone got any scissors?" I asked as I pawed through my bag for my hairbrush

"I do," Terrence replied before walking over to me and handing me a pair of scissors.

"Cheers," I replied as I put the scissors down on the bed and pulled out the brush from my bag. I brushed through the long strands of my hair until my hair was slightly wavy. I had no idea what I was doing but I took a deep breath and picked up the scissors before taking medium strands of my hair and cutting it just above where the bubblegum pink started.

 _Snip. Snip. Snip._

My pink ends had been cut completely off, my hair now just tickling the fullest part of my bust. The pink hair that I had cut off laid lifelessly on the ground. The sign of the break I was going to take from SOSO to fully focus on university as SOSO doesn't allow 'outlandish' hair on agents that could be sent on missions. They allow breaks where I could keep my apartment, use the facilities, and still go on-site; I just wouldn't go on missions.

It was just ironic that I had started a break and I was all of a sudden back on a form of mission.

I tied my hair up into a messy bun with two small strands of hair left out to frame my face in order to cover up my botched haircut before putting on my coat and buttoning it up. I then sat down on the edge of the bed and checked the time.

7:32. Date: 8th March ?

My eyes narrowed at the date. It was the day after I was in the crash, making it look like not much time had gone on since I had died, but I was in a different timeline altogether which made my head feel slightly woozy. But it also made me wonder where I was. My phone was able to change the time, just not tell me where I was.

My mind then took me back to Terrence's nose and how little Carmen and Peter had said about it.

I was actually surprised that Carmen and Peter hadn't bought up Terrence's nose and how it had miraculously healed up overnight. They possibly didn't even remember the events before as they appeared to have been passed out all night, which would make anyone have a form of short term memory loss, but now my head wasn't (as) influenced by alcohol, I pondered how Terrence's nose healed over, but all of the ideas I had defied the laws of physics and/or biology.

Once everyone had packed their bags, we all checked under our beds and pillows to make sure we hadn't left anything behind before leaving the room that smelt of damp and shit.

Terrence returned the keys to the front desk and exchanged brief conversation with the man at the desk before coming back over to us and giving us a brief nod that told us that we had officially checked out of the inn.

Once we were outside, we started walking straight, just like the soldiers had told me to yesterday. As we walked, I noticed just how old our surroundings looked. Thatched roofs on some of the houses, beams of wood that were patterned in criss-crosses on the front of some of the buildings, the wagons pulled by horses with an array of crops being taken to what I assume would be the farmers market.

I don't really think any of us were in the mood for talking as Carmen was still wiping the sleep from her eyes and Peter was continually yawning. Terrence strode at the front next to me, occasionally cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders.

The day was a lot brighter than yesterday as there was only white fluffy clouds lazing across the sky. People were out in the streets early, not in an extremely busy way, but it was certainly busier than yesterday.

I heard a group of girls giggle lightly and whisper coyly. When I looked up, I saw that they were looking and pointing at our group. More specifically, at Terrence.

I nudged Terrence lightly with my elbow and gazed pointedly at the girls. Once his eyes trailed over to them, they all started giggling hysterically and speeding off in the opposite direction from where we were heading.

"Looks like you've gotten yourself a fanbase already," I giggled

Terrence's eyes widened slightly before he chuckled and scratched his neck.

"What can I say? I'm just that irresistible," he said saucily

I cocked my eyebrow and giggled.

"Someone's modest," I teased

Terrence playfully nudged me in the ribs, making me giggle harder.

"Do you guys know what we're doing for breakfast?" Peter interrupted

Shit. I forgot we had to eat.

"I have some sweets in my bag we can share out once we get there," I said quickly

"Healthy choice," Carmen commented

"Better than nothing," I shrugged

I saw a building with three emblems on it around fifty yards away: a green unicorn, blue and white pair of leaves (or something), and a pair of roses. That should be it. I recognised the leaves as the emblem on the backs of the soldiers from yesterday and the roses from the guys I spoke to yesterday. The unicorn? I had no clue.

Terrence chuckled to himself.

"A unicorn? Who came up with that as a sigil?"

I smirked.

"A bunch of pansies, I assume,"

Once we had gotten to the large brown building, I noticed a group of four soldiers standing at the doors with clipboards in their hands, all in deep conversation with one and other as they seemed to be attempting to carry on gripping their clipboards whilst talking quickly with their hands. As we got closer, I noticed that there was only one girl within that group, looking unimpressed.

They soon noticed us and straightened their backs, pretending that they didn't notice each other.

Once we were nearly in the doorway, the group approached us. As soon as they were close enough, I noticed they were wearing the rose badges. The stationary guards, who Carmen and Peter were going to join.

"Are you here to sign up?" the girl asked

She couldn't have been older than me. Her freckled face seemed to beam with youth as a slight blush dusted her cheeks and her eyes were still wide and innocent. She was a good five inches shorter than me, yet her voice was deep and seemed to hold at some authority.

The other soldiers approached other members of the group.

"Yes," I replied

"Can I have your name?"

"Charlotte Hill,"

"Age?"

"Twenty,"

"Date of birth?"

"January 7th,"

"Birthplace?"

Shit what was this town called again? I remembered it began with a T and sounded very similar to 'Trost', but I couldn't be too sure. Shit. My mind was now scrambling for answers, the Capital? Was that a place? I'm pretty sure I heard it mentioned, do I run with that or do I go with Trust?

"Um, the Capital?" I said with a slight waver in my voice

"Hmn, the Capital? You must be bored," she commented snarkily

Even so, she wrote down my birthplace as 'Mitras' on the sheet with my details which, I was assuming, was the capital of this country or land or however this place could be described.

She then put down her pen and gestured me to go through.

"You're gonna need to get measured and given your gear, keep going straight and someone will get you sorted," she then tore my paper from the clipboard and handed it to me "and give this to whoever's measuring you,"

I walked ahead before turning around to see if the rest of the group had finished with their profiles, and after a few seconds, we were all united with sheets of paper in our hands with our details on them.

"Where did you guys say you were from?" I asked as we walked down the wide corridor

Peter chuckled nervously.

"I just said that I was from around here, so they put 'Trost' on my sheet,"

"According to mine, I'm from 'Krolva' as I said that I was west from here and waited for them to name a place and said yes to the first one," Carmen chuckled

I looked over at Terrence.

"And you?"

He shrugged.

"I remembered the name of the place, unlike you idiots," he sneered

"Gold star for you," I muttered darkly

I admit to being slightly jealous of not being able to remember what this place was called.

Once we had gotten to the end of the wood panelled corridor, we were greeted with a doorway to a wide room that was full of windows that blazed the room with the sunlight from outside. The room was full of chairs and only a few were occupied by what looked like guys and girls in their early teens. All of them were wearing white trousers with a shirt and a waist length beige jackets with a different emblem on it. This one had what looked like two swords crossed over each other, possibly what every new kid wears?

We were spotted by another group of guards who ushered us in separate directions, Carmen and I went left with a tall woman with brown hair that was tied in a loose bun, and Terrence and Peter were taken right with a guy with a buzzcut.

We were led into a small room with a series of jackets, trousers, boots, belts, and bandage along with a tape measure that was laid out on a table in the centre of the room and a set of large scales.

"Ok, so if you," she motioned Carmen "come over to the wall where you see the numbers, I'll get your height, weight and measurements sorted and if you," she motioned at me "take a seat and just wait for me to finish with your friend but could you just take your coat off?"

"Sure," I said in a breathy voice before unbuttoning my coat and taking it off, being careful not to let my phone slip out.

I then took a seat and averted my eyes away from Carmen who had just been told to strip down to her underwear and had gone a vivid shade of crimson and kept her eyes down. It was more for Carmen's benefit than anything as she was already in an uncomfortable position and I didn't want to make it worse.

The room had only one window but it was pretty big which allowed for a lot of light to be let in, yet the windows had a frosted glass effect on them, making sure that no one else could peak in and see anything that happened in the room, which was a relief.

Then I realised that the woman getting my measurements would see my underwear and body. Not that I was ashamed of them, but they look out of place for a medieval Amish community. Especially if I'm supposed to come from the upper class area (well from how the soldier from earlier reacted, I assumed so). I mean I could say that my bra and pants were part of the fashion. Black and purple lace with matching pants. Ok, I could try and get away with that excuse, but my body…

From what I remembered from 'Horrible Histories' most upper class people were either really overweight or wearing a corset, no tone or definition in their muscles. I had to lose muscle before I went on the mission in order to look frailer, yet as soon as the mission was over, I did a load of weight training in order to gain the muscle I had lost. I wasn't completely ripped, but I was toned and that would look out of place for the place I was supposed to come from.

I could just tell them that I was rebelling and I wanted to get some training in before I left home. Could that work?

I bloody well hope so.

When I looked up, Carmen had changed out of her clothes and was now being belted in to some form of bondage wear. Belts on the thighs, across the chest, down the shin, by the waist. What were they going to be used for?

Carmen was then handed a pair of knee high brown boots and a beige jacket before the woman called me up.

I placed my jacket on the chair and walked over to her.

"Ok, so can you take your clothes off, please and go and stand by the wall where the numbers are, oh and hand me your information sheet, please?" she said in a gentle voice

I walked back over to the chair and stripped my dress off and folded it before putting it down on the chair and taking my sheet of paper before walking back over to her.

"Here," I said as I handed the paper to her

She looked down before putting it on the table in the centre and walking over to the part of the wall that measured our height.

"Ok, so you are 1.76 metres, ok now can you walk over to the scales, please?"

I walked over to the scales and gasped slightly as the metal plate that I stood on was freezing cold.

"71 kilos," she noted

I stepped off the scale, back onto the polished wooden floor.

I was honestly surprised that she hadn't really said anything that deviated from my measurements, which was actually a huge relief as I wasn't really in much of a talking mood as I started to become more aware of the emptiness of my stomach and the dryness of my mouth. I didn't have water, but I had Chinese sweets to look forward to, and surely, an establishment like this should have water, right? Possibly infested with cholera, but I had yet to see disease and plague infesting the streets.

The woman took my measurements from my neck to my feet before telling me to take my 'brassiere' off and I complied. I unhooked my bra, letting my breasts breathe for the first time since I changed for the airport 'yesterday' as I had completely forgotten to take my bra off.

Yet my relief was short lived when the woman took a bandage, told me to lift my arms and started wrapping the bandage around my chest, binding my breasts, making them look small and flat and giving me more of a boyish figure.

Once she deemed the bandage sufficient, she ran her hands across my chest, just to make sure my chest was flat enough before going over to the table.

"Do you have a shirt with you? Preferably white, but any colour would do," she asked as she looked for trousers

"Yes, I do," I said as I walked over to my bag and opened it up before nabbing the first material that came into contact with my hand. Thankfully, it was the white shirt I wore yesterday and I put it on and buttoned it up over my flat chest.

The woman gestured me back over and motioned me to put on a pair of white trousers, which after I put them on felt so comfortable. They were tight but not too much so and were pretty flexible.

Then she handed me a pair of calf length white socks which, again, were very comfortable.

Then came the belts.

They were already attached to each other, leaving it to me to just step into them and adjust them as I see fit. Once the woman had helped me step into the brown leather and led my arms through the loops, she helped me adjust the tightness of the belt across my chest, around my waist, and on my thighs. Once I was sorted, she then gave me this leather skirt thing, which I was able to slip on over my belts before being handed boots and a jacket as the next girl to be measured came in.

I sat in the chair and quickly slipped on the boots and jacket before bundling my dress into a ball and shoving it in my bag as well as my bra. I then grabbed my coat (and again making sure my phone hadn't dropped out) before leaving to sit in the waiting room with the others.

Terrence, Peter, and Carmen were sat in the corner the furthest away and were talking quietly amongst themselves with wooden cups in their hands.

"Oh hey, Charlotte, how's the binder?" Terrence asked whilst giving a side glance to Carmen, who had probably told them about the binder.

I shrugged.

"Not too shabby. Hey, where did you get the drinks from? I'm parched," I groaned

Peter pointed to a small table by the entrance with a multitude of wooden cups placed on it. I quickly got up and speed walked over and nabbed a cup before walking back over to the group and guzzling down the water because not only was I parched, but my breath tasted sour on my tongue and I needed the water to dull the tanginess on my tongue.

Once I had sat down next to Peter, I went into my bag and made sure to stay as silent as possible as I opened the packet of marshmallow rabbits in my bag and emptied them into my cup so that no one saw the wrapper and got suspicious. Peter looked down at what I was doing and surreptitiously handed me his cup, where I emptied out some sour plum sweets and handed him back his cup.

Peter then nudged Terrence, who handed me his cup, in return, alerting Carmen who handed me her cup. Once our cups had been filled with sweets, I proceeded to demonstrate how to hide eating sweets as I took the mug to my lips and tipped some marshmallow rabbits into my mouth before putting the cup down on my lap with my palm covering the top so that no one could see what was in the cup.

We mostly sat in silence with the odd sound of chewing and swallowing until everyone had finished their nutritious breakfast, crammed with shit tonnes of sugar. Not that I really cared, as long as I was eating something that tasted good and set me up for the day. I mean I would usually start the day with porridge with honey or buttered toast or bacon and egg, depending on how much time I had that morning.

Once I had finished my breakfast, I put the cup down on the floor and laid back in my chair, watching as the room steadily got fuller and fuller with kids as young as thirteen going in to get fitted and sat down. Since there were now more people coming in, more staff were going into the separate changing rooms to get the soldiers fitted into their uniforms and belts.

"I didn't think we'd be in with younger kids, holy hell," Peter murmured

"It's definitely weird," Carmen replied as a girl that looked around fourteen sat next to her.

I did see two trainees that looked around my age, maybe slightly younger? Either way, when they noticed the two chairs in the seat next to me were vacant, they came and sat next to me with a look of relief on their faces.

One of them was a tall guy with chin length wavy dark brown hair and light brown eyes. His companion was a girl who looked very similar to him with the same dark brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail and light brown eyes, but the thing that gave away her feminine identity was that her hips were slightly wider than his, making me believe they were related. Brother and sister or cousins.

"Hey, do you mind if we sit next to you guys? I can't be asked to deal with kids this early in the morning," the girl asked

I send her a friendly smile.

"Sure," I replied

Both her and her companion sat down in the empty wooden chairs and let themselves lean back and make themselves comfortable.

"It looks like we're the oldest ones here, like I thought there would be more oldies," the guy said

I turned to him and cocked my eyebrow.

"And what do you consider an 'oldie'?" I asked mockingly

The guy looked down at his lap and chuckled.

"Anyone over eighteen," he stuck out his hand "I'm David and this is my sister, Ros,"

I took his hand and shook it,

"I'm Charlotte and these are my friends, Peter, Terrence, and Carmen," I gestured towards each person

"So, what regiment are you wanting to join?" David asked

"Charlotte and I are hoping to join the Survey Corps and Carmen and Peter are joining the Garrison," Terrence replied

David and Ros' eyes widened before they looked at each other then back at us in disbelief.

"You two want to join the Survey Corps? That's pretty extreme," Ros said quietly

Terrence shrugged,

"It's better to explore while you have the chance," he replied

Before David could retort, a tall man with tanned skin and mousy brown hair came into the doorway and coughed to get everyone's attention. All eyes were drawn to him and the room went from being full of nervous chatter to complete silence within an instant.

"Outside are the wagons that will take you to the training grounds. Once you get there, you will be shown to your dorms where you will stay and train for three years, unless of course, you believe you made a mistake and want to pull out of the military, then by all means, do so. After you've settled in, your instructor will want to talk with you all before being dismissed for lunch, then you have the rest of the day to conserve your energy for training tomorrow, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" everyone replied

"One more thing, the salute. To salute like a proper soldier, left fist behind your back, right fist over your heart, like so," and he demonstrated the salute of a soldier

We were then led out of the room and back down the corridor to the outside area where we came in. There was a limit of fifteen people per wagon, so Terrence, Carmen, Peter, and I made sure we stuck together as we bundled into the horse drawn wagon that smelt slightly musty, making sure to get a seat in the corner.

The wagon was covered by a white canvas that kept the sun from entering the sides, but the door to the wagon was only half of the doorway, letting us see the wagon behind us and the surrounding areas of the places that passed us by.

Once the horses were moved into gear, the slow and bumpy journey to the training grounds began. The chatter from the waiting room started up again and everyone was introducing themselves in a huge fifteen person conversation.

I had learnt that most of the people in here were around sixteen, but that was only because the older kids wanted to sit in the wagon without the youngsters, which I cannot blame them for. I was sandwiched between Terrence and a girl who had introduced herself as Mara and was seventeen and from an outside town called Shinganshina. It was like everyone was introducing themselves in order, so after Mara finished introducing herself, everyone's eyes were now on me. Pressuring me to introduce myself, so I held my composure and did just that.

"I'm Charlotte, I'm twenty and I'm from Mitras," I said in a slightly sweet voice

There was a hum before a boy spoke up.

"Why did you leave the capital? It's the safest place in the walls," he said

I thought for a few moments before replying

"What's the point in staying behind the walls when you can discover the outside? I guess I felt suffocated in the capital and if that's the safest place in the wall, I want to make the rest of the walls just as safe, if not, safer," I replied

There was another hum before attention was drawn to Terrence

"I'm Terrence, I'm from Trost and I'm twenty two,"

This whole say a bit about yourself then answer a few questions then move on to the next person carried on until everyone had spoken, then another boy with short, spikey hair asked about the branches people wanted to join. Out of the fifteen of us in there, nine wanted to join the Military Police (who I learnt guarded the king and got to live in the capital), Carmen and Peter were the only ones wanting to join the Garrison, and Mara, Terrence, and I were the only ones wanting to join the Survey Corps, something everyone found both intriguing and in their opinion, stupid.

"So what makes you guys want to risk your lives and throw yourselves out to the titans?" One kid who had introduced himself as Angus asked

Mara was the first to reply:

"I remember when I was younger watching the soldiers going in and out of the walls, and I want to be part of that. I want to see what's on the other side of the wall and I want to feel safe and not have to think about the titans that lurk outside the wall," she said

 _'Poor thing',_ I thought to myself

Once we had stopped, we were all told to get out of the wagon before standing in one big group made up of people from fifteen carriages, averaging at around two hundred and twenty five people. Which was strange, as I remembered that there was only around five wagons that took us. Then again, these other wagons could have come from different parts of the walls.

A short woman with blonde hair and blue eyes told us to get into groups of twenty with people of the same sex, which made me immediately stick to Carmen. What I found amusing was that I noticed that the girls seemed to want to gravitate towards our group. The older girls from other wagons would make eye contact then come over to us and ask if we wanted to be in a group with them, to which our answer would be 'sure'.

Once everyone had gotten into groups, we were teamed up with a group of boys and led to a cabin. Thankfully, our group was teamed up with Terrence and Peters and we were all led down a sandy track to a large cabin that had been split so that the left section of the cabin was for the girls and the right section was for the boys.

We were then led by the blonde woman to our cabin which smelt faintly of mildew and were slightly dark, but to my delight, there were actual toilet stalls and running showers!

There were two lines of bunks, one on the left and one on the right. The beds were all conjoined onto one block both top and bottom bunks with flat mattresses and thin duvet covers with a few tables in the centre of the room and a fireplace at the back by the window as well as a gaslight in the middle of the room that hung from the ceiling, making the room look cosy and homely. Although the mattresses were flat and looked pretty uncomfortable, I've slept on worse.

The woman then took our names and assigned bunks. Carmen and I were in next to each other on the top bunk with a girl with dark red hair called Abby sleeping next to me as Carmen got the bed in the corner by the window.

After being assigned to my bunk, we were given lockers to put all of our belongings in. They were around my height and inside were hooks and hangers to hang clothes on. Once I had shoved my bag into my locker, we gathered around the woman in the middle.

"Right, you're now going to be led down to the training grounds for a talk with your training instructor, Ralph Unger. Don't expect him to go easy on you just because you're new and if you want to go home afterwards, nobody will stop you. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," we all replied before being led down to the training grounds whilst integrating with the boys section of the cabin.

Once we were on the training ground, we were lined up into rows of twenty five before being told to stand at ease and in silence. For around ten minutes, we stood still in the blazing sun with only a gentle breeze to cool us down when a man wearing a green overcoat stepped in front of the whole group.

For a few moments, he paced the ground in front of us with heavy feet whilst looking at all of us new recruits with a look of disdain splodged on his face. He would occasionally stop to take in the appearance of a particular recruit before continuing his pacing until he stood completely still.

"Cadets, stand at ease!" he yelled in a voice that could only be described as a stereotypical drill sergeant. Low, loud, and imposing. We all sprung to action and stood with our legs slightly parted and our hands behind our backs.

From the distance he was away from me, I could see that he had wrinkles on his face and deep hooded eyes as well as very little hair on his head which made him look a lot older than he probably was.

He started approaching individual cadets, towering over them, casting a shadow over them, intimidating them. The first girl he approached was a short girl with honey blonde hair that was tied into a bun.

"You," he stopped in front of her "Who the hell are you?" he asked

"Daisy Adler of Trost District, sir!" the young girl cried

"Trost, eh? What do you want to achieve at the end of your three years of training, given that you don't pussy out or die."

Wait, we could die in training? It's a given that most, if not all military training has some risk to it that could end in a really bad injury, but death? Was it really a good idea to bring the three others with me? Would it be my fault if they died during training? I knew I could probably make it, after all, I've had to do some pretty dangerous shit in my life, but how would my training and experience match up to this training?

"I want to join the military police and serve my king, body and soul." She replied

"The king doesn't want your body or your soul. He already has too many naïve kids with shit for brains wanting to give him their body and soul. He has quite the collection of bodies, I doubt yours is any more interesting than theirs." said the Instructor harshly before moving on to the next person.

Was this like a rite of passage? Something used to break our spirits to see if we're capable of being moulded into soldiers? If so, then this was going to be interesting. What would he pull me out on? My hair? My height? My accent? The fact I want to join the Survey Corps? Maybe he'll mash all of those factors together?

Once the instructor had finished with one row, he made them turn around, so that they could watch the one way insult match as they watched in silence. It was my row next.

I watched passively as he insulted a girl's happy disposition, as he crumbled a boy's hopes and dreams of being a member of the Military Police, as he drug a girl's self-confidence to through the mud as he pointed out her lazy eye and said that she could never make it through with an 'evil looking eye like that' causing her to cry and walk out of the training ground. He was picking out a person's weakness and weeding out those with bigger weaknesses than others and those who succumbed to their weakness.

Once he got to my row, I gave Carmen a small smile before turning back to face the front as he got to a boy called Tommy who stood shaking in both fear and admiration next to me as the instructor mocked his pre-pubescent voice that had yet to break before moving on to me.

He stood slightly taller than me and just looked me dead in the eye.

"Who are you?" he asked in a tone that was only slightly calmer than the one he used on Tommy

"Charlotte Hill," I replied confidently, preparing myself for the next blow he might end my way.

But that never happened. He just took my appearance in one more time before moving on to Carmen in a tone that matched the one he used on Tommy, making her squirm uncomfortably as he mocked her short height and thin stature, saying that she would never be able to even make it up the wall with such little muscle mass.

I pondered over why he decided to skip me and move on. Time limit? Or maybe he knew I've already been through some form of rite of passage? But how? My face doesn't always look serious nor do I look particularly 'broken in'. I look…normal. Maybe it's in the way I stand? I couldn't even begin to think of why he skipped me until I had been left to soak in each insult he hurled at every cadet he stood at.

Then it happened again, this time he had skipped over Terrence.

What was his trauma or rite of passage that made the instructor skip over him? I mean, I couldn't blatantly ask if he had been through a particularly traumatic experience as that would just be harsh and slightly impersonal. So I continued to stand in silence as theories washed around my head like a tidal wave.

It couldn't have been that I almost died as he would have skipped over Carmen too. Ugh, all of these questions buzzing around my head were starting to give me a headache. So I kept on staring ahead until the instructor had made his way around all 225 of us. Once he had finished, he stood in silence again until he broke the silence.

"You useless lot are dismissed for lunch," was all he said waving us off to go and queue up for a belated lunch.

We all herded together and made a beeline for the large wooden building that was being pointed out by one of the soldiers as the dining hall. I was able to catch up with Terrence and Peter with Carmen right behind me.

"Well, that was interesting," Peter said nervously as we got into the queue that had just started to go outside the dining hall

"Yeah, I liked the part where he insulted me and skipped over you two," said Carmen saltily at Terrence and I

Terrence quickly looked over at me and shrugged.

"Probably because of the way we stood or something, he probably thinks we've done something similar or had some form of rough life that has already broken us in," he said

Well, I did have a bit of a rough life and I have seen things that are both gruesome and downright disheartening, but I highly doubted it showed in my appearance. The mission in China was certainly one of the rougher ones as I did have to perform 'certain acts' and listen to how the girls would use the little money they were allowed to purchase either heroin or cocaine or alcohol or maybe a mixture of all three just so they didn't have to go through being raped, which some might think would cause trauma, but to me, it was work. Horrid and uncomfortable, yes, if I needed information, I was willing to do anything and just shut off my emotions, even if that did mean having to get treated for multiple STDs (thankfully not HIV or AIDS). I think it was on that mission that I decided it would be best to take a bit of a break.

Carmen then looked over at me as I stared at the floor and looking at the patterns and seemed to think that she may have struck a nerve (which she hadn't. The patterns on the floor were pretty intricate) as her voice softened and she changed the subject.

"What do you think we're having for lunch?" she asked

Terrence peered over at someone who had gotten his tray and hummed.

"Looks like vegetable soup with bread, a potato, and water. It doesn't look too appetizing," he grimaced

Once we had gotten to the front and grabbed our wooden trays with a metal bowl filled with soup with the consistency of vomit, and side plates with an undercooked potato and slightly doughy bread, we made our way over to an empty table and sat down on the slightly rough surface.

"Bon appétit," Peter said cheerfully as he plunged his spoon into his soup and took it to his mouth.

"How is it?" Terrence asked as he swirled his spoon around is bowl

Peter shrugged.

"Could do with some salt and pepper but there isn't any that I can see,"

So the three of us picked up our spoons and started eating the soup, which to be honest wasn't too bad, save for the dark hair that I pulled out of my mouth one too many times. The bread was a bit undercooked, as was the potato, but all in all, not too shabby of a meal. I mean it could have been worse like cold tinned spaghetti or a cold tin of baked beans (which I have had the pleasure of having whilst training for SOSO).

Once we had finished we took our trays over to a rack and placed them on it before walking outside to bask in the spring sunshine and spend the last few hours together before our training really began.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Thank you so much for reading this chapter and I'm sorry it's so long (and late). I really appreciate the comments that have been made so far and the release of season 2 of the anime helped give me a kick up the backside to update.

Anyway, I really need help with my studying as I can't seem to concentrate or get into the groove of it, which is starting to worry me as my exams start in May and the revision I have done I can't even remember ;_;

Again, thank you so much for reading and any comments and criticisms made are always appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Before we start, there are references to human trafficking and rape along with PTSD. If any of these themes subjects offend you, please don't read on.

That evening, after having the exact same thing for dinner as I had for lunch, we were given half an hour to settle down for the night, have a wash, chat with friends, play cards on the wooden patio outside the cabin, just make sure to be in bed by 10:00 or face consequences. Whatever they were.

I decided to sit outside on the patio with Terrence, Peter, and Carmen as the girls in our cabin were hogging the showers and in all honesty, I couldn't be asked. I know I hadn't showered for a day, but apparently most of the girls hadn't showered for weeks and this was the first wash they never thought of washing as a priority, so kudos to them for finally washing?

The sun was starting to set over the horizon, creating swirls of pink and orange in the sky. In some way, it created a warm nostalgic feeling in my chest as I was briefly reminded of the times I would sit in the training field of SOSO with Thalia, Joe, and Danny who I shared an apartment with. We'd sometimes have picnics in the summer and watch the sunset whilst listening to old indie rock on a small Bluetooth speaker.

I smiled to myself and brought my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them.

"You guys know what you're wearing to bed? I didn't pack any pyjamas," Peter said sheepishly

Carmen shrugged

"I guess I'll wear the shirt I came in and a pair of panties that I had spare in my bag," said Carmen

Terrence nodded in agreement.

"Same," he replied before looking at me "you?"

I scratched the back of my head before stopping. I had forgotten to pack my shirt. I know this because I remember throwing my shirt on the floor and not putting it in my bag.

"Shit," I hissed

"What?" Peter asked

"I didn't pack my shirt," I replied

Terrence patted my back before standing up.

"I'm pretty sure I've got a shirt you could borrow, it's probably gonna be a bit big but it's something," he said

"Are you sure?" I asked

"Yeah, it's not like I'm going to be wearing it here anyway. Hang on, I'll just go and get it for you," he said as he walked off to the boys section of the cabin

Peter stretched out his legs and yawned.

"Gee, It's been a long day, in all honesty, I can't wait 'til lights out," he said as he stifled a yawn

Carmen giggled.

"Ugh, me too. If it wasn't for the girls in our cabin having these stupidly long showers and loud conversations, I would've had a shower by now and would probably be falling asleep," she sighed before lying back onto the smooth wooden surface

"It's like half an hour 'till the sweet release of sleep," she murmured

I glanced down at my fingernails and saw that the navy blue nail polish I had put on them just before I had left Shanghai was starting to chip and crumble off through the multiple events of the day. Yet contrast to the nail polish was something more permanent etched on my left wrist in dark blue ink.

六

The Chinese for six (pronounced Liù) is considered to be a lucky number in Mandarin, especially in business. Well to some it is. To be honest, I hadn't really taken much notice of it until now, but now I could really take a good look at it, I could feel my teeth start to clench. I had gotten this as a brand, a tramp stamp, a sign of ownership from the gang I had been keeping an eye on. I was going to have it removed once I got back to England, but that never happened. So now I have a constant reminder of them, no matter what.

I was a part of the sixth bar owned by the gang known as the 'Blue Tigers'. I know their name doesn't sound too threatening, but the influence and crimes they committed would make one think twice about mocking their namesake. I say bar as in girls that were old enough to be put on display would work as hostesses as prostitution is strictly prohibited, but the girls not on display… that was a different story all together. Shanghai is one of the safest cities and there aren't really any rough areas, it's just when one has to look under the surface do they see the bad qualities of the city.

Peter must have noticed the symbol on my wrist as when I looked up, he was wordlessly staring at my wrist as if he was trying to figure something out. His eyes seemed to glaze over when he looked up at me and said (in a rather heavy tone):

"So you speak Chinese?" he asked

I nodded.

"Mandarin," I replied as I slowly pulled my sleeve down to cover it

Did he know why I had it? Possibly. If he was familiar with the underworld of some of the most notorious Chinese gangs, then yes, he would. From the way his voice changed and his eyes glazed over, I had a sinking suspicion he understood.

"Ah, Cantonese. My dad's from Hong Kong. How come you speak Mandarin?" he asked carefully

"My secondary school offered it as an option for GCSE and A level, so I decided to take it for both, then I became fluent," I replied

Well, it wasn't a lie.

"Oh cool, so is six like your lucky number?" Carmen chimed in

I smiled and nodded. Of course I was faking it. If anything, I wanted nothing more to do with the number six and if I could scrape that tattoo off, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Just then, Terrence came back with a red and black plaid shirt in his hands and waved it in front of me.

"Here you go," he said as I grabbed it

"Thank you so much," I said as I clutched the shirt close to my chest

There were a few people out on the patio with us, soaking in the evening sun and playing a card game (that looked very similar to rummy) whilst talking about their dreams of joining the Military Police and about their lives back home. The way they smiled and spoke about their hometowns and how they were going to make their families proud made me realise how different our worlds are. If a child back in the twenty-first century said they wanted to join the army, generally, people would support them, but they would also try and change their mind and tell them to look for a safer option. Here, families seem to actively push their child for a career in the Military Police, possibly because they know it's a pretty secure career choice.

"It still seems like this is all a bad dream," said Peter as he gazed at the sunset

"If it was, I would've woken up by now," said Carmen distantly

"Maybe we're all in comas and we've all telepathically connected inside some lucid dream," Terrence suggested

"I could roll with that idea," said Peter

I said nothing as the conversation between the group had started to dwindle as they seemed to think into the philosophical reason as to why we were here. Both Carmen and Peter soon looked like they were in some form of trance that they couldn't be woken up from. Terrence just seemed to be listening in on the conversations going on in the other groups before looking back over at me.

I smiled and glanced over at the smiling and laughing group of boys playing rummy. One of the boys had been caught peeking at his friends cards and as punishment, had to go into the girl's cabin and stay in there for at least thirty seconds.

So he stood up, puffed out his chest and marched proudly into the girls' cabin. His friends jeered and guffawed and slapped him on the back, pushing him to do what they told him to. It was only maybe five seconds later that there was a collective of screams and squeals as the guy was chucked out of the cabin and the door slammed loudly in his face.

I chuckled as he scuffled back to his friends and picked up his cards again with a heavy red blush on his face. His friends were asking why he was blushing, but his only reply was:

"That's what girls look like," as if he was somehow dazed and confused by some unknown force making his friends woot and slap him on the back.

There was a chime of a bell from the tower several hundred yards away, grabbing our attention and pulling us away from whatever we were focusing on. As soon as that bell chimed, we all knew that meant it was ten minutes until lights out.

Carmen and Peter huffed as they helped each other up and walked over to Terrence and I.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Charlotte, you too Carmen. Sweet dreams," said Peter as he helped me up

"Good night," I said

"G'night. Sweet dreams to you too," Carmen said as we both started walking to our dorm

"Yeah, g'night," Terrence called out before going into his dorm.

Once we were in the dormitory, I noticed most of the girls on the bunks below Carmen and I's were although in bed, sitting up and gossiping whilst playing with each other's hair. Plaiting them, tying them into elaborate buns, some pretty stunning work. I didn't really care about what they did now, but if they kept me awake or woke me up, I wasn't sure what I'd do, but it would be savage.

With Terrence's shirt in hand, I climbed up to my bunk with Carmen and started to strip, thanking God that I had taken the belts off and placed them in my locker straight after lunch or else it would have been a lot harder to undress knelt down on a bed. I unbuttoned my blouse and unravelled my bandages, letting my breasts free from the confinement of the tight wrappings before putting on Terrence's comfortable plaid shirt then lying down and taking off my white trousers.

I then shot down the ladder and walked past the group of girls, opening my locker and folding up my blouse and trousers then placing them inside before walking back over to the bunk and climbing back up the ladder and settling down on the hard mattress with the covers drawn up to my chin.

I promised to myself that I would wake up early and have a shower then with whatever is provided (from the smell of the girls, nothing too good as they still smelt slightly ripe). I kept the messy bun in my hair as I couldn't be asked to take it out. Carmen had crawled over me into her 'bed' and settled down with her face to me.

"You feelin' ok?" she asked

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired now," I replied as I snuggled down deeper into my pillow

Carmen tittered sleepily.

"Same, you ready for tomorrow?"

I nodded.

"You?"

Carmen shrugged.

"I don't know," was all she said before pausing and then hesitantly saying in a soft whisper:

"I'm scared,"

I looked at her soft face and noticed tears coming out of her eyes. I smiled comfortingly and reached out my hand and put it softly on her cheek to wipe away the tears that had been making their way down her cheeks.

I couldn't exactly tell her that everything was going to be alright as I didn't actually know where the hell the future was going in the first place. I couldn't assure her that everything was all going to be ok, so I pulled her in for a hug.

But I could assure her one thing. I was possibly one of the best trained people here. I have had to fight my way through some of the most difficult and physically challenging trials I think anyone could have to go through, but that's what made me stronger. That's what put fuel in the ignition to keep on going, and that's what could assure Carmen that I would do my best to protect her through training.

"If anything happens to you, I don't think I'd ever be able to forgive myself. I'll keep you safe," I whispered into her ear as she shook with silent sobs and clung her arms around my waist

"Light's out, girls!" a soldier called and slammed the door before some of the girls started turning out the small individual lamps around the room except for the light hanging from the ceiling which was to be kept on all night

The girls continued to chat quietly amongst themselves in quiet murmurs that my ears couldn't seem to pick up.

I cuddled Carmen's body tighter as her sobs started to subside. Her breath started to even out and her arms were still wrapped tightly around my body. There was something comforting about it, even though I was supposed to be the one comforting her. I felt safe in her arms, so it wasn't too long after that I fell asleep in her arms.

 _2.10mx2.10m. that was the size of the room. The toilet and shower were around the size of a broom cupboard and stunk of sewage and damp. The room was windowless and dark but the blue and green fluorescent lights that hung haphazardly from the ceiling seemed to be the only thing that added light to the room. Even if it was dim._

 _The bed was covered in a plastic sheet and unbeknownst to the customers, was ridden with lice and bedbugs that made it next to impossible to lie beneath the covers. Only the prized girls got nice clean rooms. Veterans of the trade knew there was no escape, so they were allowed rooms with windows and clean beds and bigger rooms and clean bathrooms._

 _'The first time is always the worst,' was what one hostess had told me in slow Chinese as she handed me a cheap tacky robe_

 _'The first time is always the worst' I repeated in my head as I was stripped of my robe_

 _'The first time is always the worst' I told myself as I was pushed onto the plastic covered bed by a man in his early forties_

 _'The first time is always the worst,' I stated as he finished on my naked back, leaving me feel disgusted and used._

 _'The first time is always the worst,' I muttered as I stepped into the shower and scrubbed every inch of my body clean of him_

 _'The first time is always the worst,' I jeered as I punched and kicked the wall several times, imagining it to be the man who took me._

 _'The first time-_

I shot up in bed. Panting, sweating, and shaking.

'It's all over,' I told myself

The girls were still asleep, unaware of the rising sun that was starting to peak through the window and casting a rose and orange hue across the room, definitely different from the tacky green and blue hues that had made their way into my dreams.

The feeling of being unclean, of needing to wash started to itch up my skin like the bedbugs under the plastic sheets. I didn't care if I woke up anyone else, I needed to shower before I threw up.

I quite literally jumped down the ladder and ran through the wooden saloon doors to the open showers. I ran up to one of the showers and quickly turned on the tap, spraying freezing cold water on my body. I squeaked as the water came into contact with my body before sinking to the tiled floor with my arms wrapped around my sides, letting the water soak through Terrence's shirt and my pants. My fingers shakily made their way to my bun and yanked out the hairband in my hair, tearing out a few hairs in the process.

I was sobbing violently as I rubbed the hairs on my head and scratched at my scalp as thousands of tiny bugs crawled out of my pores and dirtying my skin as they crawled around my body.

I couldn't scream as I was too scared to scream so I just stayed on the ground with my hands tearing and scratching at my scalp with the horrid feeling of being unclean.

It was about fifteen minutes later that my head had cleared and it had really sunk in that I was no longer in the filthy room in Shanghai and that instead, I was in a shower room in God knows where wearing someone else's shirt and my own underwear that clung to my torso, arms and thighs.

"Fuck him," I whispered to myself

No matter how much I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but feel disgusted afterwards. I don't know if I define it as rape. Was it rape if I was willing to do it? Regret is different to rape, I know that but I can't help but feel disgusted with myself for allowing myself to go through with it and not try and pull out of the mission. I feel disgusted that I let them use me like a ragdoll, but not by the action, but that I actually enjoyed it. Is that so wrong? Was it wrong that I sometimes look back on that moment and feel… turned on?

I snarled as I ripped the shirt from my body and tore my underwear off, leaving me naked on the floor. I'm not going to be defined as a victim. I didn't feel sorry for myself, I felt numb. Not to the point of depression but more of a block. I wanted to forget whatever happened new world, new life and all that shit, but I couldn't forget.

I shakily stood up in the midst of the cold stream and started scrubbing my skin with my fingernails, especially around my left wrist. There wasn't any soap or shampoo, so I had to rely on heavy scrubbing and using water as a way to clean my hair. It would have been better to have some form of chemicals in my hair, but alas, beggars can't be choosers.

Once I had finished, I turned off the shower and wrung the shirt and pants of any water excess water before walking out into the dorm again. I walked over to my locker and pulled out a towel that had been supplied and wrapped it around my body before kneeling down and pulling my phone out of my bag.

4:30 am

9th March ?

Still no specified year. Great.

I wanted to listen to music before anyone else was to wake up, so I took my uniform and belts into my arms as well as my bandage and phone and walked into the separate toilet area which was (thank God) not communal like the showers were. So I walked into the farthest stall from the entrance and locked the door behind me. I know it wasn't wise to go into a public toilet without footwear, but the floor was pretty clean, as was the toilet itself.

I tipped my head forward and took off my towel and wrapped it around my head, capturing my hair and twisting it so it sat on my head.

I then plugged my earphones in and unlocked my phone before praying to God that I still had Spotify Premium as who actually buys songs off iTunes? Whatever God was watching over me had listened to my prayer as I saw my different playlists were still downloaded and available to listen to.

There were several playlists to choose from:

Gym (107 songs)

Chill (204 songs)

Study (58 songs)

Party (92 songs)

Musicals (17 songs)

Nostalgia (63 songs)

Shower (56 songs)

High (22 songs)

I chose from my 'Nostalgia' playlist which consisted of the songs I grew up on. Songs my dad and brother used to listen to before I lost them. Songs by Bowie, The Kinks, The Beatles, The Smiths, and Vashti Bunyan just to name a few. It was a playlist I was very fond of listening to when I was feeling a bit low and needed a quick pick me up. It wasn't as simplistic as I listened to the music and somehow all my problems go away, but it distracted me and a good distraction was what I really needed.

Once I pressed the sweet green shuffle button, I closed my eyes and sighed as the sweet quirky sound of 'O Superman' by Laurie Anderson. I remembered how much that song used to piss me off with its repetitive sound and strange lyrics, but I started to appreciate it more as I got older and admired it as a pretty catchy song.

I placed my phone on the seat between my legs as I got the bandage and started wrapping it around my chest, making sure that it wasn't too tight or too loose around my breasts and that my earphones didn't sneak their way into the wrapping process.

Once I had wrapped my chest, I tilted my head forward and tied my damp hair into a bun on top of my head, promising to myself that I'd brush it once I'd finished getting ready. I then put the same white blouse from yesterday and put it on and buttoned it up before pulling my trousers and leather skirt thing on. I huffed as I realised that I also had to put my belts on as well. In a dim toilet cubical. Damn.

I mean I could always go out into the dorm and put them on in the middle, but I didn't want to leave the comfort of my alone time before I had to face everyone again. In all honesty, I didn't actually want to talk to anyone today, but I knew it would be inevitable that the group would want to talk to me and possibly other recruits would want to talk to me as well. Plus I'd have to be ordered around by the instructors which would cause anyone to try and rip their hair out in frustration.

So in this time on my own with my music, I could just mentally prepare myself to just walk out and put on a good face until the end of the day when I could go to sleep and hope that the next day would be better and I wouldn't have any bad dreams that would trigger the cycle to continue until it finally broke me and I gave up.

So I put on my belts and tightened them and made sure that there were no twists before taking a deep breath in and exhaling out again and unlocked the stall door and quickly hid my phone in the towel I was carrying and walked out into the girls' dorm where only a few girls seemed to be up and having a whispered chat with one and other.

"Good morning," one of the girls chimed

I forced a smile back,

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" I asked politely

"Yes thanks, you?" she asked

"I slept alright, thank you," I replied through gritted teeth as I made my way over to my locker and shoved my phone back into my bag and grabbed both my boots and Terrence's shirt. Of course I needed to dry it, so I decided that once I had my boots on, I would hang the shirt and towel over the bannister of the patio and let it air dry. Which reminded me that I also needed to brush my hair before going to breakfast.

I pulled on my boots and walked outside into the fresh spring morning. The cool spring breeze felt good against my cheeks. I looked out to see the sun was now higher in the sky and some of the instructors and older recruits were training early and already doing laps around the training field. I hung the shirt and towel on the bannister along with the towels that the girls used last night before walking back into my dorm and closing the door behind me.

As I undid my hair from the bun, something seemed off. When I ran my fingers down the length it should have been, only to find it was longer than it should have been. Much longer than it should have been.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I grabbed my hair brush from my locker and walking into the stalls where the only mirrors were and almost screamed at what I saw.

My pink tips had grown back.

Just like Terrence's nose had.

"What the fuck?" I gasped as I pulled the wet strands of pink hair up to my face for closer inspection. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me. My breakdown wasn't causing me to hallucinate. My fucking hair had grown back.

How? Was the only question and thought that manifested in my head. First Terrence's nose, now my hair. What the fuck? Had we acquired some regenerative powers since ending up here? How was that possible?

Then I remembered the stares and points I had gotten in Trost for my hair.

'I have to hide this,' I thought to myself

I didn't care how wet my hair was, and very quickly brushed it before delving into the bag in my locker again for the scissors I had borrowed from Terrence. Once my fingers had found the cool metal, I tied my hair a few inches above where the pink began and hurriedly snipped it off before grabbing the hairband again and tying my hair up into a bun. Leaving the clumps of pink hair on the floor of my locker.

Just in time too as the recruits wakeup call (being one of the instructors) barged through the door with a face of thunder.

"Wake up, you useless lot. You have fifteen minutes to be at the training field and running laps. If you're not, it's no breakfast for you! Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" a few bleary eyed soldiers said as they shot up out of bed.

I closed the locker behind me and stood back up before walking over to my bunk to see if Carmen was up, which thankfully, she was.

"'Mornin'" she yawned when she noticed me at the bottom of the bed

"Good morning," I replied

"How long did he say we had again?" she asked

"Fifteen minutes," I replied as I eyed the door

She must have noticed my eagerness to go out:

"You go on ahead, I'll meet you down there,"

"You sure?" I asked

She nodded and waved me away, so I made my way back out into the crisp spring morning. This time, I noticed the sound of the twittering of birds in the surrounding trees as I walked quickly down to the training fields, where nobody but the instructor stood.

Once he noticed me, he gave me a curt nod,

"Start running, cadet,"

I didn't ask him how many laps, like I felt I would have if I were in a better mood, but instead, I just started moving my legs quicker and quicker, letting all of the pent up anger, sadness, shame, disgust take over, making me lose all sense of what was real, losing the sensation in my legs as I just kept running. I was shutting off the world, quite literally running from reality, and it was possibly the most euphoric feelings in the world. Running without a sense of direction or being told where to go.

The dusty ground beneath my feet coughed at each heavy footfall and each breath of air started to feel like ice at the back of my throat, but I still had so much to get out. If this was going to get my emotions out without hurting anyone or snapping at anyone, then I was going to use it, not caring if I was running like an idiot on acid or huffing and puffing like a dragon. Nobody could stop me.

I was unstoppable.

Well, I was until I felt a hand clamp onto my shoulder and pull me back into reality.

The shock caused me to carry on until my feet were no longer on the ground and I fell back onto my back. It was like one second, my focus was on the path in front of me, the next, I was staring up at the pastel blue sky.

My ears were ringing for a few seconds, and I knew someone was shouting at me but my hearing had temporarily vanished, turning the sounds around me into loud incomprehensible muffles before my hearing was also dragged back into reality.

"Hill! Are you deaf? Did you not hear me the first time? Stop running!" the head instructor yelled in my face

For a few seconds, I remained in a slight daze before finding the strength to pull myself to my feet. I now noticed that my legs felt like they had been made out of jelly as they shook and seemed they seemed to struggle under the weight of my upper body.

"Sorry, sir," I said without a tremor in my voice as I stared him dead in the eye

The instructor stared back before giving me a curt nod.

"Go and get breakfast, you've run enough laps," he said quietly

No. I wanted to go back into the realms that running took me to. I didn't need breakfast, I needed to run. I had to run. It was the only escape.

"But sir, I-"

"Hill, I won't say it again. Go. And. Get. Breakfast," he hissed

I had to give in as there was no way I could argue with him without getting my arse handed to me, so I nodded and started walking to the dining hall when Terrence caught up to me.

"You alright?" he asked

I felt exhausted as looked at him and forced a smile for what felt like the thousandth time this morning. Putting on the façade of being fine one too many times.

"I'm fine, you?" I replied

Yet he remained straight faced as he looked at me intently before sighing.

"I'm good, ta," he replied as we got closer to the dinner hall before walking through the doors, grabbing a tray and being served something in a bowl with a roll of bread and potatoes.

"Where's Carmen and Peter?" I asked

"Running extra laps, they weren't at the training field in time," he said as he gestured to an empty table right at the back

'Lucky bastards,' I thought to myself

I picked up my spoon and looked into the bowl to see that it was plain porridge. Not exactly haute cuisine, but it would suffice. I took the spoon into my hand and started eating. After the first spoonful, I decided that it could do with fruit or maple syrup or at least something to add a bit of flavour. But alas, beggars can't be choosers.

As I ate, I noticed that Terrence was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He looked like he wanted to say something but was struggling to find the words.

"What's the matter?" I asked

Terrence then took a deep breath.

"Look, before Carmen and Peter get here, or anyone else for that matter. I know," was all he said in a lowered voice

What did he know? That I was an agent? That I worked in a brothel? That I completely broke down this morning and was trying to recover? That my hair had grown back overnight like his nose had?

I shifted and kept on eating as if what he had just said didn't affect me.

"What do you know?" I asked without a quiver in my voice

He didn't say anything, but when I looked up, I gasped.

He had covered his mouth with this palm, not so that it was touching his mouth, but close to doing so. All four of his fingers were straight and touching except for his thumb that rested on the side of his hand with a bend in it, creating a triangle. His other hand was behind his back.

The salute of a SOSO agent.

I was in shock. I'd never seen him around HQ, making me think he was from another branch, but why did he have a Scottish accent? Was he recruited at a later age? Had he moved from the UK branch to another branch?

"What the fuck?" was all that could come out of my mouth.

Terrence then put his hand down and leaned in closer to me, dropping his voice to a murmur as more recruits started coming in.

"Look, I know it's a lot to take in-"

"Which branch?" I cut in. I know I should have let him speak, but I wasn't in the mood to be rational and think things through properly.

"Barcelona," he replied

"Oh, then why do you have a Scottish accent?" I asked

"I'd grown up in Spain. My dad had a job out there," he replied before looking down at his hands.

"Why now did you tell me about this?" I asked

Terrence reached out his hand and held mine comfortingly.

"Because in order to survive this, we're going to have to trust each other. It's better I tell you now than later 'cause then you'd be wondering why I didn't tell you earlier. Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything to Carmen and Peter,"

I nodded and went back to my breakfast before another question popped into my head.

"How did you know I was a SOSO agent?" I asked

"I died a few years after you, so I saw all of the reports on your death being published,"

That was possibly one of the most surreal things I think I've ever heard. I mean I've heard some pretty weird stuff, but this one took the biscuit. I hadn't really thought about when these people around me had died, so having someone tell me they knew about my death was strange and made me feel a bit queasy.

"When did you die?" I asked

"22nd of March 2017," he replied

He was about to say something else, but Carmen and Peter interrupted him as they put their trays on the table and sat down with red cheeks and shortness of breath.

"Ugh, my legs are dead," Carmen winced as she tore a chunk of bread with her teeth and seemed to gulp it down

"Mine too, plus we're going on these weird suspender things today. I'm not sure what they are, but we got talking to these cadets who'd been here longer and apparently they're testing our aptitude for these 3DMG things. That's why we have the belts,"

"Sounds fun," said Terrence as he ate another spoonful of porridge

I looked over at Terrence and smiled to myself. It was honestly nice to have someone who had also been involved with SOSO here. It was like him telling me that made me trust him more and definitely made me warm up to him, not as in crushing on him, but in a way that would make us best friends. If he and I could both handle missions, we could definitely handle these giants together.

It wasn't long after I'd finished my breakfast that the head instructor of our entire group burst through the door.

"Cadets, I want you out on the field in five minutes!"

"Yes, sir!" we all yelled back before hastily packing up our things and heading down to the training fields before being told to split into our cabin groups, both girls and boys mixed together before lining up in front of these giant metal poles with hooks dangling down the middle. Similar to a harness on a trampoline in some crappy mall but I guess all of these belts we were wearing were technically our harnesses.

"Listen up, cadets. This tells us whether you have the aptitude to use the 3D Manoeuvre Gear. If you fail at this aptitude test, you will be sent straight home without question. We will be attaching these hooks to your waists then you will be lifted upwards before hanging there for a minute. Once your minute is up, you will be lowered and that's a small fraction of your training completed. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

I watched one of the girls from our dorm go up first with a slight swagger before being hooked in and cranked up by one of the trainees behind her. At first, she was shaking like a leaf and was struggling to find balance, but once she did, she just hung there with a triumphant smile on her face before being lowered again.

Once it got to my turn, Terrence patted me on the back before I walked up and was attached to the hooks before standing there for a few seconds, looking upon the faces of my fellow trainees. Carmen gave me a thumbs up before I felt the pressure of being lifted upwards. I didn't wobble or lose my balance as I was naturally able to adjust my body as I was lifted higher and higher. Then, I had to just hang there for a minute, looking down at the trainees who hadn't yet gone up eye what I was doing in order to stay upright.

The sky was now an azure blue with wisps of white clouds in the sky, making the day in early March seem more like the summer. Maybe this was a completely different hemisphere like Australia, but then again, I had yet to see a spider or any type of bug for that matter.

Then I realised how high up into the sky I was. It was so freeing not being confined to the ground, the issues and worries that came with gravity didn't seem to apply here I was truly free. I felt a genuine smile make its way onto my mouth as I hung there, feeling my body tune in to the slight breeze and adjusting accordingly.

I felt myself start to go closer and closer to the ground.

"Good work, Hill. Next!" the trainee said as I had reached the ground and he had unhooked me

I felt a surge of pride as I walked to the back of the line and watched for the next recruit to make their way upwards towards the sky.

This new found pride replaced the shell of a person I was this morning. The freedom that came with this gear was going to push me through training. I was going to fight my way through. That was a promise I had made to myself.

 _3 years later…_

This was it. Every task and challenge that had been hurtled towards me was now under assessment. The fire that I had felt three years ago on the frame had yet to dwindle. It had grown with each challenge that I had overcome.

I clutched my swords tightly as I glided through the trees, gaining speed when I noticed the first fifteen metre dummy being pulled up.

 _Aim for the nape_.

Before anyone else could get to the dummy, I picked up speed and sliced through the spongy material with my swords before moving on, catching a glimpse of the instructor perched in one of the trees like an oversized bird of prey.

Three years of adrenaline junkie shit like bungee jumping, trust exercises, rock climbing without a harness, and this is what it had been ground down to. Two weeks of brutal assessments that would hopefully pay off. This assessment being the last one.

In this assessment, we were working as individuals as the group assessment was a few days ago. I was up against Ros, Dan, Josh, and Mara who seemed to be lagging behind. I had only caught several glimpses of them going through the trees and there was one occasion that I had heard a yelp.

The next dummy that came into sight was slightly taller, so I had to gain height. I toggled with the switches on my blades and shifted my weight in order to get higher before going back down and slicing through the neck like a hot knife through butter.

Pushing myself further through the forest, I noticed that the finish line was close ahead, meaning that any second now, the makeshift titans would all be popping up at once creating a medley of missing chunks from the napes of the dummies.

Once I heard the snap of a branch from the undergrowth below, that's when I quickly changed my blades and readied myself. And as if on cue, four titan dummies popped up at once. Gritting my teeth, I accelerated and swung through the trees and co-ordinated my own attack that led to the slicing of napes one after the other like a pendulum, swinging once then attacking. Swinging once then attacking.

Then I was past the two posts that held up a red banner, meaning all of my assessments had ended. I lowered myself to the path that was covered in mulch and landed next to one of the instructors who clapped me on the back.

"First one back. Well done," he said as he handed me a water bottle

"Thanks," I replied breathlessly as I took a swing of the bottle and chugged it

"Make your way down to the training grounds and take a breather, you deserve it, Hill,"

I rolled my shoulders and rubbed the back of my neck before smiling wildly. I had officially finished the training corps course, I was now ready to enter the Survey Corps, well, I was tomorrow night after the graduation ceremony.

Carmen, Terrence, and Peter had been in the groups before me, so I was really looking forward to just sitting down and enjoying the time I had without being watched over and assessed every few minutes.

I knew one of the tasks I had scored the highest in was marksmanship. In SOSO, I was one of the best marksmen and that skill had shone through in my training career. Although it took some time to get used to the feel of these guns as I was used to more advanced designs, once I had gotten used to the feel and the aim of the military rifles, I was definitely one of the best in that category. I'm not trying to be cocky or a show off. However, marksmanship would only really be useful in the Military Police. Not so much in the Survey Corps, which was actually a bit of a shame.

Once I had caught a glimpse of my original group lying in the grass and basking in the sunlight, I started laughing as I sprinted over to them. Once I had reached them, I sat down on the grass next to Terrence and Carmen before lying down on it.

"Someone's cheerful," Terrence commented

I turned my head to the side and gave Terrence a mocking look.

"Why wouldn't I be, Terrence darling? It's not exactly like we've finished training," I said in an overly posh accent

"Of course, darling," he said as he rolled his eyes

Carmen laid down on the grass and put her head on my stomach and chuckled as she put her hands to her eyes.

"Graduates of the 92nd Trainee Corps. It sounds so fancy," she said

"Ugh I know, and I can't wait 'til I earn that title," Terrence said

As we lounged in the sunlight, we just chatted like normal people. We had learnt to adapt to our environments very quickly. I had learnt that I had to wake up early so I could snip off the pink tips of my hair that had grown back and pop them into the fireplace underneath the logs and parchment, that way, people wouldn't ask questions. We as a group had learnt that in order to be injured, we would have to prolong the symptoms as all of us seemed to have this regenerative power.

That I couldn't come to a conclusion about why we had it.

This regenerative power was both a blessing and a curse. It helped to keep us in peak condition and stop injuries from hurting us for too long, but if we were injured, we had to put on an act that was sometimes difficult to sustain for a long period of time.

But I knew the conclusion to one thing:

Tomorrow, we were graduating, therefore, Terrence and I would be leaving Carmen and Peter behind in pursuit of escaping the cave and bringing humanity with us.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: Sorry if this chapter's a bit of a filler, but I felt like there's so much going on in this chapter that I didn't want to have the whole graduation ceremony included.

Thank you to everyone that has commented on this story, it means so much to me when you do!

I'd also like to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story, without you guys, I probably would have lost motivation to write this story and would have kept it all to myself.

Enough of the Oscar acceptance speech, if you have any questions, critiques, or comments, I'd be more than happy to respond!

Again, Thank you guys so much.


	6. Chapter 6

Quick warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts

That evening, there was to be a feast in the mess hall straight after we got our ranks. We no longer had to wear our uniform except during the graduation ceremony, then our uniforms would change to that of our desired military branch. Mine being the Survey Corps.

I walked into the communal showers with just a towel wrapped around my torso and two glass bottles of handmade shampoo and conditioner (well, the shampoo was just lemon juice and water and the conditioner was just rose oil mixed with olive oil and was only applied to the tips) and a cheap bar of soap. Thankfully, only a small number of girls were in the showers, meaning that it wasn't too crowded and I wouldn't have to wait for anyone to get out.

I put my towel to the side and walked over to one of the showers and turned it on then got blasted with the icy cold jet of water. Something I had grown accustomed to, but nonetheless, it was still always a shock to the system after initially turning on the tap.

I poured the lemon juice and water concoction into my hand and rubbed it into my scalp, getting rid of any dirt and oil that had built up over the day before applying the oil to the tips of my hair. Then, I rubbed the soap bar all over my body. It wasn't the cleanest I'd ever felt, but I was definitely one of the more hygienic in our cabin. Most of the girls in here only washed about once a week as washing was quite low on their priority list.

I turned off the shower and walked over the wet tiled floor before wrapping my towel back around me, embracing the warmth it provided.

I walked back into the dorm where all of the girls were in different states of either dressing after their shower or undressing and getting ready to shower the sweat and dust from today off their lithe, muscular bodies.

I strode past them with the towel securely wrapped around me with my bottles in my hands over to my locker and patted myself dry with the towel before wrapping it around my (still) peroxide blonde hair.

I guess there's a small detail that I never really went into detail about.

Since coming here, my body, face, hair, everything except my clothes and nail polish was exactly the same as when I first came here. My hair never grew to show off my light brown roots, my fingernails and toenails hadn't grown a millimetre. My pubic hair was still barely visible from the night that I had shaved it just slightly over three years ago. My body, from all the heavy training hadn't grown in bulk from training, it was still toned, but not to the degree it should be from all the heavy lifting, running, hiking, use of the 3DMG, horse riding, sparring. Nothing had changed.

That wasn't the weirdest part.

No matter what injury had been inflicted the day before by the mid-afternoon or the next morning, those injuries had completely vanished. Be it: a scratch, a dislocation, a break, or a bruise, it would always be healed by the next morning at the latest.

Yet there seemed to be a consequence of this superpower. That consequence being I had to eat at least (what I had calculated to be) 2,500 calories a day, which was pretty easy as the giant bowls of porridge and sickening amount of bread and potatoes we were given helped me reach that target. If I didn't, I'd start getting really bad nosebleeds and sometimes, if I'd gone two days under the target, I'd cough up blood.

I still got sick with viruses which would stop me eating, which is when the nose bleeds would occur.

It wasn't just me who had noticed this 'superpower' and had this set calorie minimum. Terrence, Carmen, and Peter had also acquired this power of both rejuvenation and regeneration. Three years, and nothing appearance wise had changed. Of course, I doubted I would spot much change, but even the slight blemishes around my nose never faded, no matter how much I cleansed my skin.

Sadly, the bloody tattoo on my wrist refused to fade. Just like its refusal to diminish from my skin, I refused to acknowledge it and I would keep it wrapped in a black bandage unless I was showering. It still had a power over me, which is why I kept it wrapped. It was a sign that I was still bound to a timeline possibly miles away, woven into a foreign cosmos, like a reminder that I still had an existence somewhere else. A dead existence, but an existence nonetheless.

And that terrified me.

If I looked at that little six for too long, I felt nauseous and disgusting. My skin would crawl at the image that would play through my head like a film and would feed on my sleep, making me wake up in a pool of my own sweat (and on one occasion my own urine). Every man was etched into my mind as I hadn't been hazed by drugs or alcohol. Eight in total, all of them had their own scent, touch, voice, movement, clothes, feel, growl, moan, name, greeting, position… fuck me. The fact I still remembered this scared me. I should have forgotten, let it rest in my subconscious, but I couldn't.

Yet the experience in Shanghai had a pretty hard impact on my sexual appetite. For months on end, I could switch off my sex drive and not really care about sex. Then there would be a sudden switch and my sex drive would sky-rocket as all of those months without having anyone touch me would suddenly hit me and all I could think about was which of the instructors or older cadets would be willing to do me. Sometimes even fantasising about the balding Head Instructor having me in his office.

Gross and taboo, I know but I always kept these thoughts to myself and never acted on them.

I'm still a mess, but I'm handling it the best I can.

Once I deemed my hair dry enough, I took out a clean blouse and white trousers as well as underwear (I could finally wear my purple bra and not that damn binder) and a black strip of material for my wrist. Then of course, I pulled out the dreaded belts. I wasn't going to need them tonight, but I guess it's for the ceremony.

I knew we were living behind two walls (the capital got three) from titans that roamed the outside and would eat humans for the hell of it and the only way of killing them was to slice the nape of the neck. I wondered how it was found out that slicing a titans neck would kill them, how did a person get up there to try it out in the first place?

Even so, I was jittering with excitement. I knew that ranks wouldn't mean too much to me as the Survey Corps weren't picky when it came to recruits like the Military Police were, but it was always good to see how one did compared to their peers.

I changed into my underwear before putting on my crisp white blouse and putting on my white trousers, along with my belts, jacket, and boots. I then quickly wrapped the black material tightly and securely around my wrist before tying it into a double knot. My hair was then tied up into a ponytail, making sure there wasn't a peek of pink on the ends, I made sure that I had trimmed my hair slightly higher than usual.

Seeing as most of the girls in my dorm were still getting dressed, I closed my locker and walked outside into the mild evening.

The onset of twilight filled the sky in an array of colour. The explosion of orange and red was starting to take up less of the sky as the sun started to sink lower and lower under the horizon, with a majority of purples and blues starting to fill the sky. The altocumulus clouds had taken on a deep lilac hue with only the closest clouds to the sun having streaks of brilliant orange run through them. The fact we weren't surrounded by any big town or city meant that there was no light pollution filtered into the brilliant night sky, leaving it untainted.

I stepped out onto the patio and sat down on one of the steps whilst remaining fixated on the sky. It reminded me of home. Not my home in Oxford, but before that when I lived with my dad in Brighton. The sky reminded me of the times he would take me to the beach with my older brother, James and we'd go down to the pier and visit the arcade and play with the crappy penny machines that would often end in winning a tacky keychain and a cup full of pennies. We'd then go out and sit on the shingled part of the beach close to the pier with fish and chips wrapped up in newspaper whilst gazing at the sunset and sea. A simpler and happier time.

How I missed those simple times.

I sniffled and brought my knees to my face whilst still keeping my gaze on the sky. The cool breeze whispered gently in my ears and soothed my mind. The simple times were no more. That was a fact I came to terms with three years ago, yet I couldn't help but sometimes pine for them, as if closing my eyes and wishing would help send me back.

I felt a presence behind me and the sound of heavy, clunky footwear confirmed his presence.

"Hey, Charlie," a soft Scottish accent hummed

I smiled lightly and turned around to see Terrence standing in his pristine uniform. Still at a towering height and still with his hipster bun perched on top of his head.

"Hey, Tez. You alright?" I asked as he took a seat next to me

"Yeah. You excited about tonight?" he asked

"Ah yes, the feast. I should bloody well expect to see meat, it been three years since I've seen a sausage and I'm craving meat like nothing on earth," I groaned as I clutched my stomach

Terrence laughed and patted me on the shoulder with his giant paw-like hands.

"Ugh, me too. All this vegan bullshit rabbit food has been drivin' me mental, like I'm an omnivore and I need my meat," he chuckled

"I wouldn't exactly say our entire diet has been vegan, I mean we occasionally get milk, eggs, butter, and fish," I reminded

"Ok then, our mostly vegan diet with the occasion of a bit of fish, eggs, and dairy, it's still bullshit. Like I'm sorry but I have been craving a greasy pork sandwich for God knows how long with barbecue sauce and ketchup. With pipin' hot crackling, ugh I'm givin' myself an erection just thinkin' about it,"

I teasingly let my eyes wonder to his crotch to see if he was staying true to his word. Thankfully he wasn't hard.

"That sounds like an orgasm in my mouth, like seriously Tez, don't get me worked up like that,"

The relationship between Terrence and I was close and filled with trust. Ever since he told me about his past in SOSO, we had become inseparable. When training, we'd always partner up and complement each other to create a small but mighty team. Where I lacked, he gained and in areas he lacked, I gained but where we both gained, we showed no lacking. Our complete trust for one and other made some people think we were involved romantically, but that was never the case. We were just amazingly good friends with an unbreakable bond.

If it wasn't for Terrence, I think I would have gone mad.

I told him pretty much everything. When we were alone during our free time, we would sometimes slink away from the group, find a secluded spot, and talk. If one of us was in a bad way, we would encourage one and other to let those feelings out be it crying or shouting or hitting. During the highs of my libido, he would listen to my frustrations, he wouldn't take advantage of those peaks, nor would he tell me suck it up and just go and masturbate in the toilets. Instead, he helped me take my mind off things by talking about trivial things like trainee gossip or how good or bad his bowel movements have been recently which really helped.

And I was there for him in return.

He never really talked about his death, just bits and pieces, but I never pressured him to talk about it or badgered him to get it off his chest as I had done for him. If he was having a crappy day due to lack of sleep from nightmares, we'd meet up behind the cabin and listen to music on his phone together. It was his way of coping and I respected that, just like he respected my verbal diarrhoea whenever I was upset.

The moment we were presently in was broken the loud chiming of the bell in the courtyard, signalling for the graduates to assemble in the courtyard.

Terrence helped me to my feet and we purposely strode down the cobbled path to the courtyard, where we were all lined up in front of this main stage for special announcements. The coats of arms of the different divisions were erected proudly over main stage with the colours on them contrasting the cold greys and browns of the stone and wood. The blue and white of the wings of freedom sent a surge through my bloodstream. That was my destination and it was now, quite literally within sight.

The Head Instructor of the 92nd Trainee Corps stood dutifully on the main stage as floods of cadets came through to the courtyard with anticipation thick within the air. Once everyone was there, a silence took up the atmosphere. Eyes were all trained on the Head Instructor with a nervous shiver going up my spine as he took in everyone within his line of sight before finally opening his mouth:

"I would like to congratulate each and every one of you for getting this far without dying. Two hundred and four cadets stand before me, each and every one of you has learnt discipline and skill over the past three years, yet only ten of you have skills that outrank your peers and have proven yourselves to be the best of the best. These ten cadets should be an example of what you can achieve when you push yourselves as hard as you can possibly push yourselves. When I call your name, I want you to come to the front:"

"At the top of the class is Terrence Baker,"

Terrence shifted next to me as some people turned their heads and looked at him in both admiration and envy. They all knew he was going to join the Survey Corps, so to them he was a wasted slot. Yet Terrence ignored some of the glares and made his way to the centre aisle and walked forward until he got to the front, where he was then motioned to the left of the aisle.

"Rank two, Charlotte Hill,"

I looked down at my feet as I let his words sink in. Out of two hundred and eight people, I was second. Again, I received a similar reception as I was quite open with the fact that I wanted to join the Survey Corps, so again, I was seen as someone who probably didn't deserve the title. But that didn't stop me as I walked past the others and walked up the centre with all eyes now on me as I took my place next to Terrence, making sure to nudge him once I was next to him.

He smiled and nudged me back before winking and looking forward again to hear who was up next.

We had both received tough training in SOSO that gave us a huge advantage above the rest of the cadets here, which to some could be seen as unfair, but my argument is that being a soldier has nothing to do with being the best in the trainees, it was about being your best in the field. Focusing on theory alone will do you no good. Focusing on being one's own best and knowing how to properly apply practice to field, now that was the most important aspect of it.

The rest of the cadets were called up in rank.

Third: Amos Kitts.

Fourth: Theo Wood

Fifth: Klaus Schmid

Sixth: Kara Bellamy

Seventh: Dorothy Keller

Eighth: Frank Mayor

Ninth: Erik Ebey

And finally: Peter Jung

I turned to Terrence with raised eyebrows and widened eyes.

Peter was in the top ten. I mean I couldn't say I was surprised as he did have talent with the 3DMG and he was an amazing leader when it came to group activities, it was just surprising to not hear Carmen's name called out as well as she was also pretty talented with the 3DMG. But I guess she wasn't good enough.

That's the shitty thing about it. Peter was now probably going to decide on whether to take the lux option and join the MP's or take the menial route and stay with Carmen. If I were him, I'd also be torn, but because I'm not him, I don't have that 'do I don't I?' disposition and I focused on that one goal.

"The 92nd Training Corps is officially disbanded. Tomorrow, you will be leaving for your new careers!"

"Yes, sir!" we all yelled before saluting and dismissing ourselves.

I turned to Terrence with a wide grin on my face and jumped up him with my arms wrapped around his neck and my legs around his torso. His arms wrapped snugly around my waist and he spun around and jumped a bit.

"I honestly can't believe it!" he chuckled

"Neither can I!" I giggled

Carmen and Peter were soon surrounding us in a series of squeals and laughs and relief. No more training, we were now entering the real deal and that caused a light quiver in my leg as I continued to latch onto Terrence.

The atmosphere that surrounded the four of us was so full of warmth as our happiness for each other's success that it seemed to radiate into the surrounding area. We knew it wasn't going to last, that we were going to go our separate ways, so we just remained like that until Carmen pulled back and asked that dreaded question that was on everyone's minds.

"So, Pete, you gonna ditch me for the MP's?" Carmen asked lightly

I had a sneaking suspicion that Carmen was expecting him to say no, that she was just asking to make sure he hadn't been swayed by a good offer to leave her and that she still had Peter as a safety net. But I think that safety net split when Peter just replied with:

"Uh, yeah. I mean it's a great opportunity, I can't turn it down," he said whilst looking deeply into Carmen's eyes.

Carmen looked taken aback as her eyes grew wide and her lower lip quivered.

At this point, I had jumped off Terrence and just stared impassively at the scene that unfurled in front of Terrence and I.

"What?" was all Carmen whispered as she looked him dead on with tears making her eyes glitter in the firelight.

Peter knew he had to carefully choose his words. If he said the wrong thing or said anything in the wrong way, he was done for. I knew that and Terrence knew that, hell, I bet even the cadets that were passing by to the dining hall for the feast knew that.

"It's an awesome opportunity and if you do well in the Garrison, they could appoint you to the MP's," he said

Carmen laughed mirthlessly.

"If it's that easy, why don't you do the same?" she asked

"Huh?"

"If it's so easy to join the MP's from the Garrison, why don't you do the same? Why don't you stay with me?"

Peter bit his lip and looked down at his feet. I could see his shoulders were starting to shake from holding back his sadness (or was it anger) and he was gripping his forearm with a clenched fist.

"I can't hear you!" she hissed

"Because it's my choice!" Peter snarled in a tone I had never heard him utter before

Carmen took a step back and looked as though Peter had slapped her across the face with the same amount of viciousness in his tone.

"And if you don't like it, I'm sorry, but it's my choice, just like it's Charlotte and Terrence's choice to leave us,"

"You can leave us out of this, we'd made a decision before all of this. C'mon Charles, they need to work this out themselves," Terrence said

I nodded and let my gaze flicker between Terrence and Carmen for a few seconds before I looked down again and turned my back on the arguing pair.

"Sure," I said quietly

Once we were out of earshot, Terrence let out a deep sigh.

"Fuckin' hell,"

"Quite," I replied

That argument had dampened my mood considerably. It was supposed to be a celebration, a happy time where we'd stuff our faces until we were sick, where we'd get completely plastered and hold each other's hair back as the alcohol that went in one way burned twice as much coming back up. Our big 'fuck you' to our livers and tomorrow, we were given until midday to sleep off our hangovers and get ready to be put into our chosen branch.

Now, it was just a big 'fuck you' to our group and this bond of camaraderie we had built.

All because of a stupid military branch.

That trust we had built up had disbanded just as quickly as a 'yes'. Of course Peter must have been torn, but it was after all his choice. We had made friends with other people but the bond between the three of us should have been, in theory, the strongest.

I guess not.

As we trundled, we received the odd 'well done' and 'can't believe you got into the MP's' to which Terrence and I simply nodded and congratulated back, attempting to ignore the dulling of the excitement I had earlier. Instead, letting the realisation of how quickly our group had disbanded sink in.

"God, that was painful," I muttered

"I know. I mean I don't know about you, but I agree that Peter has a right to his own choice, but for fuck's sake, why did he try and drag us under the bus too?" he asked

I shrugged.

"Probably wanted to shift Carmen's attention off him," I replied as we reached the wooden doors to the dining room.

"Why now though? Couldn't it've waited until after the feast? Like when we get smashed then we all just forget about it?"

"I wish," I muttered before realising how amazing the mess hall smelt.

The scent that filled the air stunned me for a few seconds for there was a smell in the air that hadn't hit my nostrils for three years.

Meat.

On occasion, like Christmas (which they did celebrate), there was fish on the menu, but it didn't have the same impact as meat. The crackling of pork, the tenderness of lamb, the juiciness of venison. I could feel my mouth flood with saliva as we found space at a table with plates of meats, roast potatoes, pies, roasted and steamed vegetables, fish, cheese, bread, gravy, and of course ale filled cups.

Terrence and I piled our plate high with meat and vegetables and proper roast potatoes and anything we could really get our hands on before finding a seat amongst the other cadets.

We sat at a table full of mostly top tens who congratulated us with sharp pats on the back.

"How the hell did you two rank so high?" Amos asked as he cut into a roast potato

I shrugged.

"A simple 'congratulations' would have sufficed," I said as I cut into a thick, rare slice of beef and popping it into my mouth.

The taste. Fuck me sideways, was heavenly. The blood from the meat added a rich flavour and the texture, how I missed it. The slight amount of fat on the side of the meat oozed in my mouth with every chew. If I had been shot whilst eating this heavenly dish, I would have died a happy death. I didn't care what Amos' retort was, meat was more important.

"Fuckin' hell this is good," I groaned with my mouth full of meat

"God how I missed meat," Terrence sighed as he tucked into his dish

"So, you two still joining the Survey Corps?" Kara asked as she took a polite bite out of her cheese

Both of us nodded our heads whilst still focusing on the meat on our plates. Who knew meat had this much power over a person?

"Why?"

"Why not? We trained to fight titans, so we plan to use it rather than loose it," Terrence said without looking up

Josie, a girl who was good friends with Kara (and someone who I had only interacted with once) furrowed her brows.

"But joining the Survey Corps is like a death wish, you've pretty much just signed your names down to die when you have a golden opportunity to live a pretty good life in the inner walls. I mean, you already had that, didn't you, Charlotte?" she said in an acidic tone

"Josie, calm down," Kara warned

But Josie pretended she didn't hear Kara's protest.

"I mean, why the hell would you want to trade the good life for the Survey Corps, hm? I would trade my right arm to have lived in the capital, so why waste it on some stupid dream or whatever you have going on?" she snarled

I looked up at her and shrugged.

"You complain when the upper class do fuck all and live in the lap of luxury, then when one tries to change that and give up that lux life, you still complain. Why?" I asked calmly before going back to my meal

Over the past three years, I did receive multiple comments on my background, most people liked it and said that they liked the way I talked and dressed and interacted with other people. I shared stuff I bought from the market with others, yet there was a few that thought I had a stick shoved so far up my backside, it would make Vlad the Impaler blush.

I fitted into my role as an upper class girl extremely well, yet I didn't look down on any of them like I assume a few people thought I did. I didn't pretend to think I was better than people because I had a role to fit, yet that label had been stuck onto me. Snob.

Josie seemed to be one of those people.

And she just glared at me before standing up and walking over to another table.

What was it with tonight and people getting into arguments?

Kara coughed politely before standing up and walking over to Josie.

I looked back down at my plate and sighed. I thought this was supposed to be a celebration with drinking and laughing and gorging ourselves on this divine food, yet I guess I was wrong.

Terrence rolled his eyes as a crash and a few gasps and 'oohs' announced to us that yet another argument had burst out from the other side of the room. This time, two guys who I faintly recognised from the cabin next to us. Antony and Will I believed their names were.

"You bastard!" one of them yelled as they threw a punch at the other's head

"I'm the bastard? At least I'm not sobbing over not getting into the top ten!" the other cried as he dodged the fist

"I'm not sobbing!"

"Fucking well sounds like it!"

Another crash and one of the boys had pinned the other to the ground, causing everyone's eyes to train onto the bickering boys.

Three years ago, I would have just watched and let them sort it out themselves. Actually, I probably would have done that anyway, but the arguments that had been started over the period of one night was enough to make a soap opera consider it too many fights over a short period of time. What really got my blood boiling was that we were all supposed to be relaxing and having fun. Not arguing like toddlers over a toy.

I guess in that moment, my emotions and frustrations got the better of me as I pushed my chair back and stood up. Terrence gave me a pat on the back, knowing what was coming for the bickering two. Unlike the brawl in the inn three years ago, these were sixteen year old boys who had yet for their bollocks to drop and to learn how to properly fight. I didn't run the risk of getting my nose chomped off.

I strode down the aisle towards the table. I noticed some of the gazes widen as I paced past them with thundering steps and a shaking fist. I felt my face twist itself into a snarl and my teeth grit together.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I bellowed once I was within arm's reach of the squabbling pair.

My yell surprised even me as it echoed around the hall, silencing everyone and halting the boys who, once they saw my thundered face, seemed to pale slightly as they looked me in the eyes.

"He started it," one of them whimpered

I felt my eyes widen in an unnatural way, as if it was my brain telling me to intimidate them more.

"Do you think I give a fuck who started it? Get up, sit down and eat your meals," I snarled

The boys quickly got to their feet and dusted themselves off as they looked at me in what could only be described as pant wetting fear. I never did anything like this, I was actually known as being mild mannered and chilled out, but people knew that my hand to hand combat skills was considerably good.

I then turned to the rest of the people in the hall who had stopped eating for a moment to watch the events unfold.

This was my chance to get everything off my chest about the pointless arguments, about how we should all be getting on with each other in wat could be our final night together. Perhaps induce insight into how to really appreciate one and other or maybe spark up a conversation between people who were joining the same military branches, who may have not even considered being friends until this moment.

I mean, I had the respect. I had formed bonds with people outside of Peter, Carmen, and Terence. I had the power to influence the cadets in here.

But alas, my anger had shrouded my head with red mist. The arguments had filled my head with malice and distaste for some people in the room that was now being projected and passed on to everyone in the room.

"You're all bastards!" I bellowed before storming up the centre, grabbing my plate that was still full of food and storming out of the hall without any clue where I was going.

I didn't feel tears prickle my eyes once I realized what I had just done. In fact, that just drove me forward to find a space where I could just calm down without ramming my fist up someone's arse. Not in a sexual way, but in an 'I am pissed off' kind of way.

I decided to go to the spot located behind my cabin. Although it was now dark, there were lanterns out to help guide my way.

Once I reached that spot, I sat down and huffed.

I had just realised how relieved I was to be leaving some of these people tomorrow. Of course, some of them were sweet, but this whole ranking system had divided friendships and caused rifts that shouldn't have been caused in the first place. If you took Terrence and I out of the equation (due to our training), this could have possibly passed as a fair meritocratic system. Everyone in the top ten deserved their places, they didn't slack off, they knew their potential and pushed past it, yet people still complained that the system wasn't fair.

I realised once I looked down at my plate that I didn't bring a knife or fork with me. So I just picked up the floppy piece of beef with my fingers and ate it like that. It wasn't like I had judging eyes on me behind the cabin.

Just then, I heard footsteps fast approaching before feeling relief that it was just Terrence coming over with his plate clenched in his hands.

In the moonlight, I could make out a soft smile on his face as he plopped down next to me in the soft grass.

"You caused quite the controversy back there," he said before biting into a roast potato

"I thought so," I mumbled back

Terrence chuckled.

"Some of them think you're even more of a bitch now that 'your true feelin's are out',"

I shrugged.

"They shouldn't have started fights that didn't need to have been started,"

For a few moments, we both looked up at the dazzling night sky. That was enough to calm me down for a bit. The lack of light pollution made the stars and gas clouds even more prominent and beautiful. It made me feel so small and insignificant compared to everything out there. The universe can have that effect on people once they realise that the stars aren't pinpricks in the sky, but giant burning balls of gas that could perhaps have a planet supporting intelligent life orbiting around it.

What if for a few moments, everyone stopped and looked up to the sky with a mind like a blank canvas? Casting aside beliefs and thoughts just to look up at all of the glimmering lights in the sky? Of course I'm attempting to be deep and philosophical, but when you've been hurtled through time and space into an alternate timeline, thoughts like that just sometimes niggle themselves into one's head when they are least expecting it. It sometimes causes headaches and an unsettling sensation of nausea, but c'est la vie. That's what you get.

Then my thoughts moved back to the present with Terence by my side.

"Do you think Carmen and Peter will make up tomorrow?" I asked

Terrence paused his eating and exhaled deeply.

"Ideally, yes," he replied

"Good. Because I want to get a group photo all four of us together," I replied

It wasn't uncommon for us to take photos and selfies when the other's backs were turned and we had been able to sneak our phones out. Childish and slightly stupid, I know, but there was something comforting in the action of getting your friends together and capturing memories together.

Sometimes, we'd listen to music together and sing to our hearts content when doing chores like cooking or cleaning our gears or scrubbing the toilets. Our renditions of songs on our devices were often comical and a bit shit but the other cadets enjoyed them and would ask us where we heard those different songs from and we'd lie and say that we heard them in our hometowns or that we'd made them up as we went along. Plagiarism, I know, but it's not exactly like we'd be sued. In fact, since in this current universe, these songs had yet to exist or maybe even never exist, is it really plagiarism?

I chuckled to myself as I finished off my dinner and gave my empty plate to Terrence.

"I'm having an early night before I have another bitch fit and say something I'll regret even more in the morning," I said as I stood up

"So, no booze?" Terrence asked

"Tonight, I'm teetotal. I can't be asked to deal with a hangover tonight," I said as I stood up and started walking to my cabin.

"G'night!" Terrence called

"Night," I called back before stepping up onto the patio and into the warmth of the empty dorm.

I walked over to my locker and stripped out of all of my gear and uniform before placing it neatly into my locker and pulling out Terence's shirt that I had used as a nightgown for the past few years. I then buttoned up the mid-thigh length shirt and made sure that I had packed everything that needed to be packed into my bag before surreptitiously pulling out my phone and earphones. I closed my locker and made sure it was locked properly before walking over to the ladder to the bunks and climbing up into my bed.

I pulled the covers back and settled in before pulling the covers over my face to block out the light and to make sure no one saw my phone.

I hadn't received a text for three years like I had when I came here. Like some sudden surge of extreme energy was able to make this connection. What caused it, I can't be too sure but I was glad I hadn't received anymore messages, well to an extent. If I had received more messages, I think I would have become obsessed to the point of leaving training just to find this source of high energy.

I made sure my earphones were plugged into the device properly before tapping shuffle on my 'Chill' playlist, when the soft croons of Mama Cass trailed into my ears.

I closed my eyes and let my mind wonder to the melody. Making sure to cancel out any of the voices of the girls flooding into the dorm and tittering about, showing off their low tolerance to alcohol and giggling about how dunk they were.

All I cared about was the music and my imagination that soon lulled me to sleep.

The next morning, I groggily sat up with a small tune in my ear. I sat up in bed and took the earbuds out of my ears, only to find that the music had cancelled out the sounds of multiple girls throwing up in the toilets, communal showers, and the sinks.

Thank God I didn't have any drinks, otherwise, I probably would be like these girls with bitch liver and an irritated digestive system, causing them to eliminate the particles of food that had yet to digest properly in their stomachs.

I turned to my left to see Carmen sleeping peacefully with her mouth slightly ajar and drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. I pushed back a lock of hair that covered a small part of her face and smiled softly when she stirred. Once her eyes were open, I saw that they were bloodshot and very tired looking with tears crusted in the corners of her eyes, suggesting to me that she had probably cried herself to sleep that night after her argument with Peter.

"Good morning, Carmen," I whispered over the awful sound of a girl vomiting over herself in the bunk below

Carmen's brows furrowed as she sat up.

"Mornin'," she whispered back, using the balls of her hands to rub away the sleep and tears that had dried up in her eyes.

"Did you sleep alright?" I asked

She sighed and shook her head before pulling me into a tight and desperate embrace that took me by surprise. I slowly and slightly awkwardly tapped her shoulder with a flat palm. This awkward embrace pretty much told me that her and Peter hadn't made up after last night's shouting match and she needed comfort.

"Charlotte?" she asked slowly

"Hm?" I replied

"Do you think I'm clingy?" she asked

"You just need comfort, that's all," replied into her hair

The moment I was having with her was broken by one of the girls in the shower room.

"Guys, I think I've clogged up the drain!" she shouted

Carmen and I chuckled at this outburst and thanked our lucky stars that 1. We had a shower last night, and 2. We didn't have training, meaning no dirt to wash off.

I knew that the younger recruits would have to clean this mess up as last year, we had to clean out two of the cabins in one day after graduation. Honest to God, it was the most disgusting things I'd ever had to clean up. There weren't any hazmat suits, or hoses to wash down every surface at a high pressure, instead, the only protection we had was a pair of gloves and a rag to tie around our faces. I vividly remember one of the cabins had diarrhoea in the middle of the floor and vomit clogging up some of the toilets. Then it came to washing the beds, which I swore to God made me hate every member of that cabin. A mixture of vomit, shit, piss, and even blood was found in at least four beds, and even worse, in one girl's bed, there was a strange wooden object in one of the beds that was polished to the point of being completely smooth and even had a varnish on it. I asked Dotty (Dorothy, the girl in the top ten) what it was, to which her reply was a muffled giggle.

"I thought you'd know since you're the oldest one here, I wouldn't touch it if I were you,"

"Why?"

"It's been inside a girl," she chuckled

Yes, it was a sex toy in the bed.

"Why don't we get something to eat?" I asked

Carmen nodded quickly and climbed down the ladder with me, we kept our heads to the floor just to make sure we didn't step in anything unpleasant and got to our lockers, where we hastily changed into our uniforms, belts and all, shoved my phone into my bag and I quickly chopped the pink out of my hair and shoved it into my locker before leaving the dorm with Carmen to get breakfast.

In the dinner hall, there were only a few sober folk there. Terrence was sitting at a table with a tanned guy who I knew was called Thom and having a light hearted discussion with him over a cup of either coffee or tea and a huge bowl of unsweetened porridge with a bread roll and baked potato.

Carmen and I grabbed a tray and picked up the bowls of porridge, potato, and bread roll before picking out a cup of black tea for me, and black coffee for her and making our way over to Terrence and Thom.

"Good morning," I said sweetly as I sat down next to Thom

"Morning," Thom said in an equally sweet tone as he tucked into is bowl of porridge.

"Alright?" Terence asked

I nodded before tucking into my meal, savouring every bite.

"Where's Peter?" Carmen asked

Terrence and Thom chuckled.

"He's puking his guts out into the toilet, like he had so much to drink last night and was talking shit about everyone in the dorm, it actually hurt a bit," Thom said thoughtfully

"What… what did he say?" Carmen asked

Terrence shrugged.

"He said that I was only in the top ten because I looked like I'd confuse a titan, um Thom, what did he say about you again?" Terrence asked

Thom's eyes narrowed as they looked up to the ceiling in thought.

"I'm pretty sure he said I was weaker than a priest's piss and called me a 'virginal little imp'," he said with a slight chuckle

Carmen, Terrence, and I laughed at this expression. For the three years I had known Peter, I had realised how savage he could be. I'm not talking like being a savage that no one likes, but a savage that makes people laugh as he roasts them. Then again, one of the boys punched him after calling them something kind of offensive, that not even I would go as far as he did. Either way, he still ended up getting hit.

"So, Charlotte," Thom started

"Yeah?" I asked tentatively

"Do you think I'm a 'bastard'?" he asked with a smirk on his face

I nervously laughed as I took a quick sip of my tea.

"I was just a bit pissed off that night with people going at me for wanting to join the Corps," I replied

Thankfully, Thom was also someone that wanted to join the Corps, and wholeheartedly supported mine and Terrence's decision in doing so.

"Ah, I see," he said as he took a bite out of his bread roll.

We continued to eat our breakfast as the amount of graduates started piling in, most with grey faces and dark bags hanging under their eyes, all of them reeking of vomit and B.O. Again, thank God I didn't drink last night.

I noticed Peter at the back of the room with a tray eyeing up our table carefully. He made eye contact with me and had a look on his face that made him look like a kicked puppy.

"Carmen, do you want Peter to sit with us?" I asked

Carmen shrugged.

"If he wants," was all she said

I looked up at Peter again and smiled before patting the seat next to me, indicating that it was safe to come and sit with us. He sent a small smile my way and trundled over before sitting down next to me.

"Hey, Peter," Terrence said

Peter nodded in return and rested his head on his hands.

"I'm never drinking again," he mumbled

I patted him reassuringly on the back and looked up at Carmen who looked like she couldn't care less about his existence. She was facing away from him and making sure that her hand was covering part of her face, so that she couldn't see Peter in her peripheral vision.

So long as Peter was hungover, he couldn't have a proper conversation with Carmen, meaning we'd probably have to keep a watchful eye on them to make sure they didn't try to gut each other with the spoons in their hand. Maybe after Peter recovered a bit more would I attempt to make the two talk again so I could get that group selfie behind the cabin.

Then again, if they didn't make up, we couldn't exactly force them to make up, so we'd probably have to take individual pictures.

The different military branches would be coming here in around three hours and it would probably be another four until it was decision time, so I'd have to make sure my bag was completely packed again and check that my hair wasn't showing any pink. Three hours was too little time to get two people to talk after an argument. Sure, within our group we did have spats (mostly between Terrence and Carmen) and those usually sorted themselves out within a day or so, meaning that the time between Peter and Carmen to make up was limited.

Though the quote: 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' could be applied to this situation and they'd just have to wait until they were in our separate branches to realise how much they actually missed each other, hey, and maybe after a few years, Carmen could work her way up to the Military Police and be with Peter. We'd just have to wait.

"Hey, the naughty kids getting' our horses ready tonight," Terrence asked

"Naughty kids?" Carmen asked

Terrence chuckled

"Yeah, some first year boys are getting' punished,"

As much as I loved my horse, tacking was one hell of a chore.

The horses we had been training with were coming with us to the Survey Corps. Thankfully, I had a deep bond with my horse who I had named Arod after Legolas' horse in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He had the same greyish mane and off white hair and slight fieriness that I had gotten used to. We were taught that the bond between a soldier and their horse was one hell of a strong bond and that some soldiers ask to be buried with their horse, which to some might sound slightly odd, but I guess if you have a living being that you depend on, you grow more than just a bit attached to it.

"What did they do?" I asked

"And how did we not hear about this until now?" Carmen asked

Terrence beckoned us closer.

"So, this mornin', I decided to get my horse ready for tonight, y'know, get it out the way. Anyway, I was about to go into the stable when this first year came up to me and asked me why I was in the stables, and I told him that I was goin' in to tack my horse, to which this kid said: 'I wouldn't worry about that,' and I asked why and he said: 'We're on stable and tacking duty'," he replied

"That doesn't exactly answer my question," I huffed

"Oh yeah, so basically, one of the first year boys' cabins thought it would be funny to steal the girls' clothes and towels whilst they were skinny dippin'," Terrence laughed

Mine and Carmen's eyes widened

"No way!" I gasped

"The first years were skinny dipping?" Carmen asked

Terrence leaned back and nodded.

"The Head Instructor was the one who found the girls after he heard them screaming on the bank. I bet it's the first time he's seen a-"

"So did he give a punishment to the girls?" Thom asked

Terrence nodded

"I think they have to stay inside and write lines 'til their hands bleed," he replied

In all fairness, there was a heatwave with an average temperature of 30oC in the last week or so before cooling down yesterday, and during those hot and very humid days, I considered stripping off and going for a swim, so I didn't blame the girls. The boys on the other hand didn't have to steal the girls' clothes and deserved all the punishment they were getting.

Once I had finished breakfast, I put my tray to the side and looked out of the window to see the sun hanging lazily above the white fluffy clouds. The sky was so beautifully blue and reminded me of the hot summer days I would spend with friends out of both term and mission time. When we didn't have to care about anything but when we were getting the train home or what we were going to eat later that day. I wish I had those times back and then, I could really treasure them.

But alas, nostalgia does nothing but keep your mind away from the present, but sometimes fantasy is a great form of escapism. This is going to sound completely nerdish and cringy, but sometimes whilst training, I would imagine that I was a character in a fantasy series. Sometimes it was hard going like Game of Thrones or it was slightly softer and I imagined I was in the universe of Lord of the Rings. I know it's pretty strange and childish for a twenty three year old to be doing things like that, but it honestly helped me train harder. Like I was proving myself to fictional characters as well as myself. It didn't stop my true aim of helping to free humanity but aided it and added a slightly more familiar approach to my aims. Like imagining the titan dummies were orcs or giant white walkers somehow made this whole reality slightly more manageable.

I did the same thing when I was an agent. I would sometimes pretend to be a character in a fictional universe when I found that the real world was becoming a bit too much for me. It's like a coping mechanism that has aided me quite a few times.

I guess it came about when I was seven when I was put into a care home.

I remember so vividly how much I hated it and how I clung to my stuffed cat, Pip (short for Pippin or Peregrin Took, I started early) when I was introduced to everyone. I remember sharing a room with a girl a few years older than me called Thalia who comforted me on my first night when I wet the bed as I was too scared to go to the toilet in the dark. She was the one that helped me create my coping mechanism of pretending bad things were fictional characters. Pretending that the dark hallway to the bathroom was a quest given to me by Gandalf and I would pretend that the scary older kids were Trolls that were too slow and stupid to catch me.

I had drawings back at SOSO HQ from those times in care. I had drawn myself as an elf as I knew that I was taller than quite a few kids and was one of the tallest girls in my class and Thalia was a hobbit as she was quite short and had pretty big feet for her height. They looked someone had given cocaine and some drawing utensils to a toddler, but they were my fantasies and my way of looking at things with a different point of view. It was Thalia who put my name in to SOSO. She was on a recruitment mission with the organisation in the area and thought I would be a good candidate, which I was and it was three weeks later that I was put through two years of basic training before being competent for missions.

Thalia had remained one of my best friends despite being three years older than me and we even shared an apartment on campus along with two other guys, Joe and Dan.

Quite a few agents did this. Not all SOSO agents are hard and heavy James Bond types with a martini in one hand and a woman's underwear in another, but around 7 out of 10 agents will admit to pretending that their mission was something else. They keep the aim the same and take into consideration abilities of the enemy and tart them up a bit, just to make them slightly more manageable.

"Charlotte, you alright?" Thom asked

"Of course, why?" I asked

"You've got tears in your eyes. Are you having second thoughts about joining the Survey Corps or something?" he asked

I hastily wiped my eyes and shook my head.

"Sorry, I was just a bit lost in thought," I replied

"Why don't we go outside and get some fresh air, you look like you need it, Pete," Terrence said

I nodded and picked up my tray before walking over to the rack for dirty trays and waited for Carmen, Terrence, and Peter, as well as Thom who decided to tag along before walking outside into the sunlit courtyard.

After spending most of my day out on the field in the sun with Carmen, Terrence, and Peter, the choosing of the branches had jumped onto us like a cat on a mouse. Like one minute, we were watching Carmen and Peter start to talk to one and other, then the next, we were being told by the Head Instructor to make sure our things were properly packed and ready to go once we had chosen our branches.

Everything had been packed, including my laptop, phone, books, tablet, and SOSO documents that I couldn't seem to let go of. My hair had been trimmed. My locker had been cleared of the hair I had collected over the past few months and emptied covertly into the fireplace and burnt. Yes it did make the air in the cabin smell even worse as the stench from the clogged toilets and shower drains hung in the air and copulated with the unpleasant aroma of my burning hair, making everyone open the windows and gasp for air as they continued to hastily pack.

Once everyone had finished packing, it was time to once more go down to the courtyard, the top ten cadets being told to stand at the front in the same position as the had the other night.

Terrence looked over at me and smiled and I sent him a small smile in return.

It was then that stage was taken over by what looked like a middle aged man with dark brown hair that was cut pretty short, tanned skin that even at this distance looked very similar to leather and lines etched onto his face. His eyes wondered along the row of the top ten before moving back into the rows behind. As if he knew that it wasn't the top ten he should be engaging, but the others.

"I am Keith Shadis, Commander of the Survey Corps. Today you will be choosing the branches of the military you want to join. I am here to try and persuade you to join the Survey Corps. Now, I know some of you have worked hard for your ranks and your minds have already been made up, but at one final push, we need men and women to join us. Titans can be frightening, but your training has proved to me that you are all capable of taking out titans. We need strong minded individuals to join us and prove to everyone within the walls that we are humanity's muscle and we can provide freedom to everyone. To those of you here still thinking about whether you want to join or not, do you think you could give your life to the greater good of humanity? If so, stay here and prove yourselves. If not, you're free to go,"

In all honesty, the part in the speech where he spoke about giving our lives frightened me a little. Of course I was capable and willing, but the risk was still embedded in his speech. Most of the other cadets heard it too and the scuffling of masses of boots onto dry dusty ground seemed to echo around us as more and more people started to leave.

The space beside and behind me felt empty as the entire row of the top ten had left. Including Peter. We hadn't even said goodbye and he'd left. I assumed Carmen had also left when I turned around to see most of the area had been emptied, save for maybe ten others including Thom. In that moment, our group had officially disbanded and it was now only Terrence and I. Without even a 'goodbye' or 'good luck' or 'we'll write to you', nothing. Our last conversation probably being about something trivial like opinions on Harry Potter or something.

Would you look at that? Not even I can remember the last thing our best friends said to us before leaving to lead their own paths.

"I'd like to congratulate all of you cadets still standing here, every single one of you has proven that you have what it takes. Now dedicate your hearts and show me a proper salute!" the Commander cried

The thudding of fists banging onto clothed chests radiated around the empty space. It had to be one of the most heartfelt salutes I think I've ever given as my own fist slammed hard against my chest, mimicking the sound of my own heartbeat in that second. The fear of the unknown suddenly rattled in my bones, but I couldn't show it. If I was going to survive this, I had to be fearless and I would have to put all of my trust into the commander. If I died, I died. I couldn't stop that now.

It was my choice and there was no going back.

That night, we grabbed our belongings from our empty dorms and with one final reminisce, I left it dark and empty with the sour smell of vomit hanging in the air.

We rode to the closest HQ, which happened to be around an hours ride away, making it around seven o'clock in the evening when we arrived. It was when we arrived that I found out that we had been lumbered with three other branches of Trainees, ours was the biggest at eleven of us deciding to join the Survey Corps.

The three other cadet corps came from the east, west, and north parts of the walls with the north having only three cadets. What was also made clear was that Terrence and I were the only cadets that were in the top ten, let alone the top two. It surprised quite a few people that even with a safer job on offer, we still decided to join the Survey Corps.

After we had dismounted, we were led by one of the squad leaders to the stables, where once again, Terrence and I were put next to each other, we took off the horses saddles and reigns before meeting back outside with Squad Leader Maude.

"Right, so tomorrow you will be put through some basic training, just so that we can see your skills and gives us an idea as to when you are capable to go on missions. In the mean-time, you will be put under the control of Section Leader Jinn who will be in charge of all of your basic training and will teach you the theory of going out in the field, currently, he's in a meeting but will join you for dinner. I'll be showing you to your dorms before dinner, so follow me,"

We followed Squad Leader Maude past the stables then into the castle where we were led down a narrow corridor then up a flight of stairs before coming to a wide opening with a slightly forked path.

Down the centre was a door that led into what looked like a common room as I could see soldiers in there kicking back and relaxing with cigarettes in their mouths and some with bottles of alcohol in their hands. Just winding down. The Squad leader didn't seem to mind about the drinking and smoking, but instead pointed to the right.

"Boys, down that corridor is your dorm. If there isn't a bed sheet on it, make that bed and it's yours. I'm sure there's a few cadets in there that will be willing to help you. Off you go,"

Terrence sent me a fleeting glance before following the boys to the right and going down the corridor with only a few lamps on the wall to guide him.

"Girls, if you'd like to follow me," Maude said as she started walking down the left path with us at her feet.

Once we got to the heavy door, Maude opened the door and we were greeted to a dorm that's layout was very similar to the cabins we had left behind, only with separate bunk beds and with stone walls instead of wood. The fireplace was roaring as the interior of the stone castle was chillier than the outside.

There were a few girls in there either laying back with a book in their hands or playing with a deck of cards. Maude coughed and the girls seemed to jump and gave sloppy salutes which the Squad Leader waved off.

"These are our new cadets, take care of them and show them where their bedding is, then can one of you take them down to the mess hall?" Squad Leader Maude asked

"I can," said one of the girls as she looked up from her book

"Thank you, Hannah," she said before leaving the room

The girls in the dorm now looked at us inquisitively. There were ten sets of bunk beds in the room and from my observation, only five of them were occupied. The unmade beds didn't have any pillows or duvet covers so it was quite easy to spot the bunks that were designated to us.

"Um, which beds do we choose?" one of the girls in the Trainee group asked

One of the girls who was playing cards looked up and smiled at us before getting up from the bottom bunk they were playing on.

"Hi, um I'm Nina, er that's Patricia, Margret, and Dasha, oh and up there is Hannah. So like the bunks that are unmade are yours and the duvets and pillows are kept in that wooden chest over there," she said whilst pointing at a large wooden chest in the corner

I walked over to one of the bottom bunks in the corner and put my backpack on it, claiming it as mine before walking over to the wooden chest and grabbed a pillow and a duvet before walking back over to my bed, taking my bag off and putting the duvet and pillow on top.

Then Hannah, a pretty girl with light ginger hair and soft freckles dotted on her pale cheeks called us to show us where the mess hall was. We followed her down the narrow corridor, down the stairs, down a slightly wider corridor then we took a right into the mess hall.

Inside the mess hall was just rows of long tables put together with meals already put on the table for the new recruits. I assumed the older cadets had already eaten as the mess hall was empty save for a blonde man at the end of one of the long tables in the centre.

The guy was Terrence like in a sense as he had blonde hair that was tied into a bun and a bit of blonde stubble. Other than that, they showed no similarities.

The blonde guy smiled when he saw us and waved our group over. Hannah, the girl who had led us here had already gone back to her dorm as when I turned around, the boys were being led by one of the male cadets. Once Terrence saw me, he quickly walked over and grinned sheepishly.

We took our seats, mine was next to the guy at the head of the table and Terrence.

"Is everyone alright? How was your journey down?" the guy at the head of the table asked

There was a hum of 'alright' and 'very good' and 'meh'.

"Ok, so I'm Section Leader Jinn, it's nice to meet you all,"

We hummed our 'hello's before looking down at the meals in front of us. Watered down vegetable soup with a potato and a large roll of bread. Basically the same as the Trainee Corps.

"So I'll give you the rundown for tomorrow whilst you eat," as soon as he said that, a chorus of spoons smacking against bowls echoed around the room which made the Section Leader chuckle slightly

"Tomorrow's wake-up call will be at six o'clock tomorrow morning and breakfast will be served at quarter to seven where you'll get your new jackets and capes. After that, I'll take you down to the training field for some laps then I'll take you guys down to the forest for some 3DMG training until lunch, after, we'll go down to one of the classrooms and do some squad theory, ten it will be time for dinner. Sound alright?"

I nodded as I pretty much downed most of my soup. I was pretty excited about training and finally getting the Survey Corps Jacket.

"I like to get to know my team before breakfast, so I'll go round the table and you'll introduce yourselves, so tell us your name and an interesting fact about yourself,"

Dammit, I didn't really have any really interesting things to tell other than I was from a completely different universe. Shit. What would I tell them? I mean I could just tell them that I like tea or climbing trees or reading books? Actually, that's what most people rely on when asked to tell others something interesting about themselves.

Unfortunately, it started with me. I knew this as the Section Leader looked at me as if he was expecting me to say something. To which I nervously nodded.

"Hi my name's Charlotte and an interesting thing about me is that I like tea," I said whilst shaking my head slightly as if I was shaking the contents of my brain for a fun fact

Section Leader Jinn nodded before pointing his finger at both me and Terrence.

"As in Charlotte and Terrence, the two high ranking cadets from the southern trainee devision?" he asked

Both Terrence and I nodded.

"Well, congratulations you two, I'll expect both of you to be snatched up by the Squad Leaders soon enough," he laughed before moving his gaze onto Terrence who looked like a deer in the headlights

"Uh, my name's Terrence and an interestin' thing about me is that I like bird watchin'," he said

I choked on my own saliva when he said that. I'm not sure why, but it just sounded like such a strange thing to be coming out of Terrence's mouth, as if this was him scraping the barrel for and interesting fact about himself and this was the best he could come up with.

It continued like this until we got round all twenty two new recruits, at which, the Section Leader made idle conversation, mostly about the weather and the new horses that had been bought the previous week. Subjects that steered clear from expeditions, as if he was scared about bringing the subject up or he was worried about bringing it up to us in case we started getting second thoughts.

This idleness soon reached ten o'clock, when we were dismissed and sent to bed. We walked back up the narrow corridors and up the stairs before coming up to the fork in the corridor, only this time, the common room was now unlit and dark, meaning everyone had gone to bed.

"G'night, Charles. See you in the mornin'" Terrence said sweetly

"See you in the morning," I whispered before parting ways with him down the left path of the fork.

Once I got to the dorm, most of the girls were still awake and either reading or idly chatting. I decided that first thing the next morning, I was going to have a shower as I was too tired from the ride down to clean myself. Yes, there was a risk that I'd have a Shanghai dream that I sometimes got if I hadn't cleaned myself in a day, I was just too drowsy to care. Fingers crossed that the drowsiness would just cause me to have a dreamless sleep.

I walked over to my bed and pulled out Terence's night shirt before stripping off my belts, blouse, trousers, binder, and underwear and pulled out Pip the scrawny ginger cat that I slept with most nights.

I noticed that next to me was a wooden wardrobe, which I put my bag and uniform into before putting Terrence's shirt on before climbing into bed and closing my eyes, letting all of today go down the sink as sleep took over.

If there's one piece of information about the Survey Corps that people may want to know before joining is that the time in it goes so quickly. You often feel yourselves blink and before you know it, there's another expedition around the corner. Over the last few years, my mind had quickly gone from 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually in the Survey Corps' to 'I'm in the Survey Corps'. When you go on expeditions, that's when you truly feel the full impact.

Seeing the titans as dummies or orcs is one thing. Seeing them up close in the flesh is another. Especially after witnessing them devour a member of your team, or even multiple members of your team. They showed no mercy. Not to Squad Leaders, not to Cadets, not to anyone.

I think it should be noted that the events of my life really kick off five years after joining the Survey Corps, when I realised that Terrence and I hadn't gotten into some deal with a new life, but something else. Something slightly more scary and invasive and downright wrong.

But before I get into that, here's a rundown of my time in the Survey Corps before the incident.

Year One of Survey Corps

Year: 839

Solo kills: 0

Assisted: 3

Expeditions: 5

Squad: None

 _When you come back from an expedition, that's when you realise how much bloodshed you see and how little the members of the public care. In their eyes, you're a parasite that feeds off their taxes and the sooner you've disbanded, the better._

 _On those five expeditions I had the pleasure of going on, I realised what I had truly signed up for. I thought it would be like an adventure like Bilbo Baggins when he got a house call from Gandalf advertising a once in a life time opportunity, only to see darkness and destruction from the orcs._

 _When you have to go on house calls to tell family members that their son/ daughter/ father/mother/ anyone has died, you see the spite in their eyes as they question and scrutinise your existence. As if they wonder why you're standing before them instead of their loved one. The jeers in the streets hurt, they can make you cry, but nothing hurts more than watching a family member crumble before your eyes and you know you couldn't have changed anything._

 _Then you realise that the people you had graduated with were those among the dead._

Year Two of Survey Corps

Year: 840

Solo kills: 1

Assisted: 9

Expeditions: 14

Squad: Maude (disbanded)

 _Maude Black. One of the best fighters I think I'd ever seen. She was also one of the nicest people I had the pleasure of meeting. She was the one that put faith in mine and Terence's ability and was the one that helped the bond between both Terrence and I reach its full potential, proving to us that we could do anything we put our mind to._

 _She had let both Terrence and I work together and watched as we non-verbally took down a titan, as if we both knew exactly what to do and exactly what the other was going to do. She let that bond between Terrence and I blossom, and for that, I can't thank her enough._

 _But her death was so sudden. So unexpected. Her leg getting chomped off, the profuse bleeding, her cries of pain as the titan picked her up again. Terrence and I had killed it before it could eat her whole, but the bleeding. There was so much blood lost._

 _And for that, I cannot forgive her for letting her life end so soon._

Year Three 

Year: 841

Solo kills: 2

Assisted: 14

Expeditions: 24

Squad: Flagon

 _Flagon. A strange name but he was the one that helped me to smile again._

 _For a while after Maude's death, I had gone through this depression where I became reckless in training and completely unfocused as all I could think about was perhaps letting myself go in the next expedition. Just letting a titan eat me and then this wasted second life would be over._

 _That and I let my 'Shanghai fever' as I so lovingly called it take over. Ending up in the beds of a few strangers on my nights off. I hated myself and loathed that I did it but it was like an escape. I pretended I wasn't in the Survey Corps and I'd let myself go_

 _Yet both Flagon and Terrence helped me push through. I soon started to sing when I cleaned and I started talking about my feelings properly. As harsh as this may sound, I started getting used to the deaths that went on during expeditions. I had become slightly numb to them and I learnt that it was ok to not let the deaths bother you and just focusing on my own goals. That was important. Terrence also started staying with me so that I wouldn't start flirting with a stranger just for a free drink and a quick fumble in the dark and instead, let me talk to him about my feelings and helping me use my safer methods of escape like my fantasies of being in the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones._

 _It was a slow transformation, but once it started, there was no stopping it._

 _I started taking more care of my appearance and making my hair look pretty by styling it intricately, perhaps letting my fantasies leak into reality slightly. It sounds superficial, I know, but people would complement me which made my self-worth soar. I didn't solely focus on my looks, I just put more emphasis which made me feel more alive._

 _And for that, I was thankful._

Year Four of Survey Corps:

Year: 842

Solo kills: 4

Assisted: 37

Expeditions: 35

Squad: Flagon

 _Within that year, Terrence and I had become like a power couple. Not in the sense of Terrence and I were in a relationship, but we were the ones making assisted kills look just as appealing as solo kills. We made teamwork in. We dressed it up and made it look sexy. We showed that you didn't have to have solo kills to make you a decent soldier, but trust in your squad. That was the cool thing to do._

 _Some of the Squad Leaders often eyed Terrence and I in the corridors and later, Flagon would complain about having a Squad Leader ask to have us in their squad, which Flagon refused to do. We were his pride and joy. His creation. His masterpiece. Like hell he was going to give us up._

 _The new found confidence I had achieved made me so much more optimistic, I admit to having my off days, but there was now a spark that refused to go out inside me and the Minute Man's mission still dwindled in my head._

 _Terrence and I had met up with Carmen quite a few times but rarely with Peter as he was always busy in the capital._

 _Carmen now had a boyfriend who was also in the Garrison with her called Mark. He was ever so sweet to her and loved her with every fibre of his being. Their interactions made my heart melt every time we met up with them for a drink or something to eat. Sometimes I envied them. Their closeness and the glow that came from them._

 _But alas, in the Survey Corps you can't really get too close to a person in fear they won't be there the next day._

Year Five of Survey Corps

Year: 843

Solo kills (so far): 4

Assisted (so far): 39

Expeditions (so far): 37

It is here that we learnt that something wasn't right and both mine and Terrence's position in the Corps changed forever.

We had an early morning lecture that morning on a new team tactic that everyone had to attend. So Terrence and I sat politely through it, even though we didn't exactly need it. That morning, we had given Squad Leader Erwin our reports on the mission for him to check then pass on to Commander Shadis as Flagon had reported ill that morning, so Erwin offered to check our reports for him.

It was during that lecture given by Squad Leader Victor that there was an authoritative knock on the door and Squad Leader Erwin peered through the door, made eye contact with Terrence and I before stalking over to Squad Leader Victor and murmuring something under his breath.

Squad Leader Victor nodded and coughed.

"Charlotte, Terrence, you're both dismissed. Erwin wants a word with both of you in his office," he said

"Ohhhh," the class erupted with a series of sounds that made it sound like we were getting sent to the headmaster's office

Both Terrence and I laughed it off, but internally, we were wondering what we had done wrong. I think it's human nature to do that. Make a list of all the things you've done wrong so you can try and come up with a good explanation or excuse for your actions. Was it something in our reports? Had we accidentally doodled a load of penises on the side of our work or something along those lines?

Terence was the one that knocked on the door after I won rock, paper, scissors and he tapped sharply on the door three times before Erwin answered.

"Come in," he said from behind the door

From the moment Terrence and I entered the room, we could feel the uneasy atmosphere almost suffocate us as Erwin motioned us to sit down in the seats in front of him, which Terrence and I hesitantly took.

"I imagine you two know why I called you in here," Erwin stated

Terence and I shook our heads.

"The reports on the mission you two sent me were rather… curious," Erwin said

I furrowed my brows.

"How so?" I inquired

Erwin took the two sheets of paper before him and split them up before placing them in front of Terrence and I. The colour of the paper was enough to send alarm bells ringing in my head and my sight to go slightly fuzzy in complete bewilderment and dread. The paper wasn't an off white colour or slightly tea stained parchment, but a pure white, neatly kept document.

Once it was placed in front of me, I almost vomited when I saw the contents of it.

This wasn't the handwritten document that I was adamant that I had written up in the wee hours of this morning, but a typed document with less words than I remembered writing.

I looked over at Terrence whose gaze was completely fixated on the piece of paper before him before meeting my gaze with a look of horror.

"Oh God," I wheezed as I looked back at the document:

 _7th March 2015_

 _Dear Mr David Baldwin_

 _Please accept this letter as notice of my temporary resignation from the position as a field agent at Sargent Obermann's Secret Organization (SOSO)._

 _Although this has been a difficult decision to make, my health has been lapsing since the recent mission to Shanghai, and I wish to take this recovery time to focus on my university studies. However, once I have recovered and have finished my university course, I would be happy to join back into the organization and go back out onto the field after this break._

 _As per the terms of my employment contract, I will continue to work for the organisation for the next two months completing my employment on 14th May 2015._

 _I have enjoyed being a part of the team and am thankful for the opportunities you have given me during my time here. I wish to still remain on campus grounds and receive any extra training and work with the mission controllers before moving back out onto the field._

 _Yours sincerely_

 _Charlotte Hill_

Once I shakily looked back up from the document, Erwin's passive face was completely blank and leaning forward, as if he was inspecting us and scrutinising us under his gaze.

"Hill, Baker, I'm going to need you to start talking,"

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N:

That has got to be one of the longest, most satisfactory chapter I've ever written. It was planned to be pretty long, but I wasn't expecting this.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much to you guy's reviewing, it always brings a smile to my face reading your reviews.

Comments and criticism are always handy and I hope to be posting soon.


	7. Chapter 7

Rhetorical question: have you ever thought your internal organs would drop out of your anal cavity after being asked a simple question that was actually more complicated than it sounded?

For a split second, you can just feel your entire digestive tract sink so low, you have to put your hand on your abdomen because you're scared that it's possible for your organs to just fall out and there's nothing you can do but at least try and keep shit in place for a few moments.

I remember hearing the pounding of my heart in my ears as no false explanation came to mind. I used to be so good at lying. Letting well-constructed stories leave my lips with ease under vast amounts of pressure. Coming up with realistic fantasies within a millisecond of interrogation or personal questions I'd rather not answer with an answer that deviated from reality (within reason).

But this.

This situation was different.

Since coming here, I had the odd question like: Why is your hair so white? What's that on your wrist? Where were you last night? Questions I could easily answer either monosyllabically or with a quip like: 'meh' or 'I have no clue' or 'piss off'. Either way, there was no concrete evidence sitting on a desk in front of me with the intimidating eyes of a Squad Leader boring holes into both Terrence and I.

I shifted my gaze to Terrence's paper to catch a glimpse of a few words and phrases such as: 'Mission failed' and 'ransom' and 'seven kilos of cocaine'. He was just as screwed as I was. Our secrets were spilled out on the table in front of us and there was no way of really worrying about how they got there. That would come later. Before that, we'd have to get ourselves out of the situation without being institutionalised, imprisoned, or worse, executed.

"Well?" Erwin asked

My mouth quivered open and my lip trembled violently. Maybe if I fake a mental breakdown, I can buy us some time to think up of a game plan.

Yes. That's it. If I start hyperventilating, shaking, crying, gagging, choking, stuttering, I can get sent down to the medical room where Terrence and I could discuss our next plan of action.

Before I could carry out my plan, I felt Terrence's hand grasp mine under the table, telling me he knew what I was about to do, and he had a better idea. The grip he had on my hand was firm but comforting. It reminded me that if we fucked up, we fucked up together. One could argue that it's not exactly a comforting thought to be in a screwed up situation, but I guess if you're with someone to help carry that burden, it feels slightly lighter to carry.

"Charles, I think it's time to tell him the truth," he said shakily

My eyes widened and the dropping sensation ran through my body a second time. The truth. As in the 'we're-from-an-alternate-universe-and-we worked-out-how-to-blend-into-society-using-our-skills-as-ex-espionage-agents-that-gave-us-the-adaptability-of Madagascan-hissing-cockroaches' truth?

If that was the only way out Terrence could see, then I had to trust his judgement, even if this may end terribly for both of us. I think the scary thing was that Erwin may not even believe us and send us to some mental institution or something. It's not exactly like he'd get the MP's on us because of the friction between the Survey Corps and MP's, plus what would we be arrested for? What would the name of our crime be? Time piracy?

I squeezed Terrence's hand and gulped. Preparing myself for the shit storm that may or may not ensue. Similarly to how one prepares themselves on a rollercoaster, your toes curl and you lean back into the seat, almost as if hoping to become one with it.

"Yeah, me too," I replied hesitantly

"Tell me what?" Erwin asked

Terrence took a deep breath.

"Before I tell you, you have to promise to keep whatever we tell you to yourself, nobody outside this room can know our secret," Terrence said quickly

For a few painful seconds, Erwin looked down at his desk before looking up again and staring Terrence in the eye with his piercing gaze.

"You have my word," Erwin nodded solemnly

'Ok. Here we go,'

"Charlotte and I were once part of a secret organisation of spies located in the capital," Terrence said slowly

Erwin's eyes widened as he looked between both Terrence and I in an expression that can only be described as shock before looking a little less at us and more at the documents in front of us. Yet I noticed the edge of his mouth very slightly curl upwards into a smirk. The reason? I wasn't too sure in that particular moment.

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Terrence had given us our storyline and motive, meaning we wouldn't have to tell Erwin the entire truth, but a lie based on the truth which can be more convincing than any other lie one can tell. I could have kissed Terrence in that particular moment as a storyline started to shamble together very quickly in my head. In those precious seconds, I had a reason for the letter being mixed up with the report, a reason for the different dates and message on the paper, even a reason for the neatly printed font.

"Hill, is this true?" Erwin asked putting me under his intense gaze again

I nodded my head.

"I can confirm it is, sir," I replied confidently

Erwin then leaned forward with his hands clasped on the desk.

"You two still have my word, but I'm curious. Who did you work for?" he asked

I had this. Oh God this question was like finding a fucking gorgeous 30 mark essay question in an exam. I had it placed so neatly in my head that when it came out of my mouth, it sounded so natural and believable.

"Well, in this organisation, we were never allowed to know each other's real names because if one of us was caught, all of our identities would be in danger and the organisation would be made public, meaning that any client that had used the organisation for whatever means would be at risk. The man in charge went by the name Sargent Obermann, I cannot confirm his true identification, for I do not know it," I replied

I felt Terrence softly pat my hand as he realised that we now had control of the situation. His story had now been moulded and modified to fit the purpose. Both of our minds seemed to interlink any lie we told could be backed up so easily.

"If that's the case, are you still using false names?" Erwin asked

Another goldmine question.

Terrence shook his head.

"No. Our letters are those of resignation, Charlotte being the first to resign then me. Once we resign we're allowed to use our real names and go back to living normal lives. The organisation won't pressure you to go back nor will it stalk you or threaten you, it just lets you go,"

"And why did you leave this group? The documents you sent make very little sense, Terrence. Plus the dates above both of your letters are different to the years we have lived in,"

I closed my eyes and gulped, making it look like I was making a difficult decision, when in reality, I could have kissed Erwin for the easy questions he was giving us.

Well, I would kiss Erwin if the chance ever came about. I admit, he's pretty gorgeous, however, he seems to play for the 'I'm not into relationships' team, so I guess the occasion would never arise.

"They're coded. The more extreme and outlandish the letter of resignation, the better. That's why we have strange years and messages on our letters," I replied

"But why? What's the point in doing that?" Erwin inquired

For a few seconds, I thought about it before letting an idea pop into my head. Tightly squeezing Terrence's hand, telling him that this was my answer.

"In case the letters are intercepted or fall into the wrong hands. If the letter has an odd message along with an odd date, then whoever has intercepted the message would just pass it on, thinking they've intercepted the thoughts and scrawling of a madman. The only times letters are sent are to accept whatever client has been enlisted or to resign. It's been a tradition for resignation letters to be plain stupid, what with mine saying I would resign but not really and Terrence's being about a failed mission. If a mission were to be failed, Sargent Obermann would already know,"

Erwin's thick brows furrowed as he processed the information I had given him.

"I see, if you don't mind me asking, how did you two get involved with this organisation?" he asked

I closed my eyes and sunk back into my seat before averting my eyes away. Terrence's movement mimicked mine almost perfectly, adding to an uncomfortable aura fall in the already uncomfortable room.

For a few seconds, all that could be heard was our breaths intermingling. The impression that Terrence and I wanted to create was that of being possibly traumatised by our pasts. Well, if he inquired any further, I'd tell a slight truth. That being I had lost my family in a house fire and I was picked up off the streets.

I hadn't really lost my dad and brother in a house fire, but there was a fire that I realise was the catalyst for the events that led to me being put into care.

"My family died in a house fire when I was six years old, I was more or less picked up off the street and taken to a location that was the headquarters of the organisation, yet you won't find anything as it has since been turned into housing after the organisation disbanded. Every agent that is recruited usually has no family members left, so they just disappear," I said quietly

"So every member of this organisation is orphaned before being recruited?" Erwin asked

"That is correct, sir. That way, recruits can simply go missing without the authorities worrying too much,"

Erwin glanced at the documents in front of us again.

"So, how did these end up on my desk?" Erwin asked

This time, Terrence answered him:

"We must've gotten them mixed up with our reports. Charlotte and I decided to burn the resignation papers the other night as a way of cleansing our past and I guess we got our reports confused with our letters of resignation,"

"How so?"

"We may have been under the influence,"

Erwin looked so close to either rolling his eyes at our utter stupidity or clenching his jaw so hard that a tooth would pop out from between those well-formed lips of his. Instead, he rested his elbows on the table and momentarily put his head in his hands.

Terrence took the chance to send me a quick glance with a reassuring smile as he silently patted my hand, sending a comfortingly warm feeling around my body. Where would I be without this annoyingly gorgeous creature in my life? That was something I've always wondered but never really in thought about in detail.

"So, you two are telling me you've thrown your reports in the fireplace?" Erwin asked austerely

We both nodded meekly, much to Erwin's annoyance. We may have only just gotten away with not retelling our past, but oh boy, I had a feeling we were in for a bollocking.

"Shadis expects these reports to be in by this afternoon. For now, I'm letting you two off and giving you permission to miss the lecture so that you can write your reports up and hand them to me by no later than midday. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir," Terrence and I replied in unison

"Good, we will pick up our conversation when you return. Baker, Hill, you're dismissed," Erwin gave us a wave of his hand ushering us out of the room.

We both went to pick up our dreaded letters of resignation so that we could properly burn them when we were stopped by Erwin.

"Leave those documents with me," Erwin interjected

I put the document down onto his desk in a similar way a teenager in a huffy mood would before giving a curt:

"Yes, sir,"

Fuck.

In other circumstances, I would have questioned why he needed our documents, but in this situation, I had to keep my feelings in check in order to not raise suspicion, so I just nodded with a painfully tight smile painted on my lips before turning my back to Erwin and following Terrence out of the room.

Once I had closed the door behind me, Terrence and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I felt Terrence pull me into a tight embrace, and I embraced him back. In the few seconds in Terrence's arms, I had realised how fast and hard my heart was pumping and how hot my face had become.

I gently pushed Terrence away before walking down the corridor and turned left into a very small and dark narrow corridor that led to the broom cupboard and pressed my face against the cool stone wall, feeling instant relief wash over my face. Terrence and I needed somewhere to cool down before going back to look for our missing reports, and what better place than to do it here?

"That could have gone worse," Terrence mumbled

I nodded.

"Yeah. We could have come straight out and told him we were from a completely different dimension and timeline," I replied breathily

The little amount of light coming into this part of the hallway was something of a blessing. It meant that if anyone were to come down the main corridor, they probably wouldn't notice Terrence and I close to the point of collapse.

I let myself lean against the cold stone and slip down into a sitting position, Terrence following suite and sitting across from me. The mood shifted from being that of slight relief to complete and utter confusion and terror.

"How the hell are we going to find our reports? I distinctly remember holding parchment with at least 1000 hand written words on it and putting it on his desk," I whispered

Terrence looked down.

"I don't know. The document Erwin put before me had been printed out but I emailed it shortly before I died. I didn't have the time to print it out and lick a stamp and post it, hell, I was in the middle of nowhere with only a bar and dwindling 3G. How that document got on Erwin's desk in the first place… It can't have been naturally done,"

The final phrase in Terrence's was said in a tone that sent shivers down my spine. Of course I had a hunch that this situation wasn't an honest mistake, but a malicious plot done by the only thing that could travel through time.

Him.

"This is going to sound completely mad, but do you think 'he' did it," I asked hesitantly

Terrence nodded slowly.

"It's the only somewhat logical explanation. What his motive would have been… I honest to God dread to think about it,"

The Minute Man. The only being we know with the ability to travel through dimensions and freeze time. The only being that knew our past and the exact second we were to die. If he could do that, I doubted that there would be anything from stopping him from hacking and email and printing it out.

There had to be a motive in this. Had we done something wrong and this was our punishment?

Or even worse, was this just for fun?

Since coming here, I've found my thoughts drifting to the Minute Man, often they're thoughts of wondering what the hell he is and why he sent us here in the first place. Was it him that gave us the ability to not age a day and for our limbs to more or less fix themselves? Was it him that made us immune to the plague of illness that broke out quite a few years ago?

With no other tangible conclusion, he has to be the conclusion.

"What now? I honestly can't be asked to write up that report again, but it's the thing that will save us from a further bollocking from Erwin and possible further interrogation, maybe even with Shadis leading the interrogation," I shuddered

Just then, the pressure in my right ear shifted, causing a slight but sharp ringing sound from within my ear. It wasn't enough to make me grasp my ear in pain, but enough to make me slightly uncomfortable.

But what made my blood run cold was the slow sharp footsteps that I could just about hear from down the hallway. There wasn't the sound of a door opening and closing to warn us of any possible Commander or Squad Leader. The footsteps seemed to have come from nowhere.

I looked over at Terrence with wide eyes and I saw that he was just as either confused or as terrified as I was.

The Squad Leader's and Commander's hallway is short and not particularly long, meaning that if a door were to open, we would have heard it. But what was the most terrifying was the footsteps were coming from the end of the corridor, where there is no doorway or longer corridor. Confirming that these footsteps had come from nowhere.

The footsteps were slow and taunting. Each step clicked against the stone floor, echoing painfully around the silent corridor.

Terrence pressed his finger to his lips and shifted his body until his knees were tucked under his chin and his arms were wrapped tightly around his legs, making him less noticeable. I just pressed my back more tightly against the wall and kept my feet flat against the wall.

The steps were excruciatingly close when whoever it was stared to whistle a two note chime. A chime one uses when calling a dog. One long high note followed by a long lower note. This set us more on edge. Whoever or whatever was coming down the corridor seemed to know of our presence as the footsteps suddenly stopped before getting to the hallway.

They were coming from the direction Terrence was facing, yet Terrence peered far as he could go but the shake of his head told me that he couldn't see anyone.

Then I noticed movement in the corner of my eye, meaning that whoever it was could now see us.

Terrence's hands dropped to his side and he stood up before tapping me lightly with his foot and nodded his head in the direction of the thing in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and came face to face with the thing I had to blame for everything.

The pale bald head covered by a bowler hat and radioactive green eyes confirmed the presence of the Minute Man.

A surge of both anger and dread washed through my body.

He was how I remembered him. Pale skin. Horrifying green eyes. Black suit. He had aged as much as we had.

"Ah. Charlotte, Terrence, how wonderful it is to be reunited with you once more," he seemingly crooned in his sinister drawl

I stood up and grasped Terrence's hand as a way of attempting to find comfort were comfort couldn't be found. The mere presence of the Minute Man was enough to make me feel nausea at the back of my throat, yet his presence also made me angry. So very angry.

He had the audacity to take me from my natural timeline which would have made my death quick and put me in a timeline where I could die at any moment. Slowly, painfully, and without dignity. And here he was, messing with our lives once again. His intentions unclear and unknown yet they were enough to make me forget my slight fear of him and want to sock his smug little face for every time I have seen a gruesome death I have had to witness and titan I have failed to kill.

I had a twisted revenge fantasy in mind where I would tie him down and punch, kick, scratch, and slap his face until the definition of 'face' wouldn't apply to him. Other sick and perverse images ran through my mind like hacking off his limbs and putting the bloody stubs into strong alcoholic substance and hearing him scream in pain. Admittedly, I would never really do such a thing as I don't fully believe in torture as a punishment, yet if one plays it out in their mind, it's somewhat therapeutic.

"Ouch, fuckin' hell Charles!" Terrence growled as he pulled his hand away from mine

I must have been gripping Terrence's hand too hard as I quickly released it with a small 'sorry' escaping from between tightly clenched teeth.

The Minute Man took in both of our forms. Each gaze he sent was like he was stripping away our clothing and skin until we were left at the bare bones. Each flicker of his eye tore away at my anger and instead made me feel so very vulnerable. The idea of a revenge fantasy started to leave a sour taste in my mouth, as if thinking about it was a bad idea and was slowly being corrupted by the Minute Man.

"I see you two have become such fine soldiers. How long has it been now? Five years. Gosh, I chose well," he drawled

"Was it you?" Terrence asked in a hushed voice

"Was what me?"

"The documents on Erwin's desk, was it you that switched 'em?"

The Minute Man looked up as if he were trying to figure out a difficult sum in his head.

"Well, considering no one else could have printed out those precious documents, I believe that, yes, I did do it," he chuckled

I stared down at my feet with wide eyes as our suspicions had been confirmed. He was behind all of this, yet I needed to know his motive. Why would he do this? What sick kind of gratification did he get from this?

"Why?" I asked in a small mousy voice

The Minute Man sighed.

"Well, since it's been five years since you joined the Survey Corps, the viewers decided to jazz things up a bit and voted for a switch in the documents," he explained

One word made my blood run cold. Viewers. Who was viewing this? Was this all staged? Was this a really bad trip I had been having on some drugs in Shanghai that I had completely forgotten about taking? Some kind of phantom life playing out in my head as I was slowly dying of an STD I didn't get treated? Or maybe I got knocked about too much by a client?

"What?" Terrence asked shakily

The Minute Man slapped his hand over his mouth as if he were a child that had just sworn in front of its parents.

"Oops. Silly me, I'm giving away all of my secrets now," he smirked

"WHO IS VIEWING THIS?" I exploded

I was shaking now and I could feel my breath start to catch in my lungs as I felt my back slam against the wall and slide down. This was now even more messed up than it was before. Why did he have to come along and ruin everything? Who were these viewers?

"Now, now, Charlotte. Why don't you both sit down and daddy will tell you," he crooned

I almost gagged when he addressed himself as 'daddy'. There is a time and place for that and this was not one of them.

Terrence's back hit the wall with a soft 'thud' and he slid down with a look of both confusion and absence written all over his face. Despite his size, he looked like a lost child in the middle of a busy street. His eyes were darting quickly along the wall behind me as if he was searching for something, possibly the viewers.

The Minute Man then crouched down into a squatting position and clasped his hands in front of him like a scarier version of Jeremy Kyle and looked between both Terrence and I.

"Now, what I'm about to tell you may shock and offend you, but when I do explain all of this, I want no interruptions. Understood?"

We both nodded eagerly.

"You see, my people are very different to yours. For starters, we have more advanced technology than you could ever imagine. It's what lets me travel here and there with you two under my wing. It's what keeps you two looking youthful and able to heal yourselves as long as you have the right amount of nutrients. It's what lets me and the others keep a close eye on you. As a completely different species, humans have always interested us, their thoughts and feelings that differ between each individual situation has truly fascinated us,"

"Because of our fascination, we started up what you would call channels. Each channel shows a different situation with a different group of humans that we have taken just before their deaths and have been given a 'second chance'. Its purpose is for both educational and recreational reasons. We are able to educate ourselves whilst in the comforts of our homes and compare notes with each other. It's like what you would call 'reality television', just without the script," The Minute Man explained

I felt sick to my stomach. All this time, I was being watched, possibly ridiculed by God knows how many beings like the Minute Man who watched as I cried, masturbated, slept with other guys, took a piss or shit, talked to myself…everything. They had seen it.

I felt more exposed than ever. The scrutinizing gaze of the Minute Man couldn't hold a candle to how utterly naked I felt.

He, they knew everything. What I was doing, who I spoke to or about. Hell, they probably knew everything about the missions I had been on. Arizona and Shanghai were two of the most terrifying missions I had been on and I had confided every emotion that came to mind when I had nightmares about those missions into Terrence and possibly a whole race of sick beings that seemed to enjoy watching the suffering of humans.

"You two have got one of the highest viewer ratings, you know? Everyone seems to be interested in a show with two ex-spies, two full time university students, and an ex-gang member. You all live such interesting lives right now. The other group that came here… well, out of the four we sent here, two died after getting into a brawl and the other two run a tea shop in the capital and they get mostly elderly viewers who want help on making the best pastry or tea or how to handle rude people with grace or whatever it is the elderly like to learn,"

My breath caught my throat.

There were others here? In the capital?

I needed to meet them. I needed to know that us five living in this messed up world weren't the only ones. That I still had another contact if things went tits up.

At this point, I was silently sobbing into my sleeve. I didn't know how else to express my emotions without interrupting the Minute Man and pissing him off, so I just let the tightness of my chest take over and the tears fall freely. If they'd seen me cry, then I guess a little more crying wouldn't make much of a difference.

"Why are you crying, Charlotte? You should be happy I'm telling you all of this now. You have closure. Both you and Terrence know why you're really here, your struggle and training both entertains us and helps the people within the walls find freedom, you can't give up now. You're both in too deep to give up now," the Minute Man said

He was right. We had committed ourselves to the Survey Corps and it was too late to give up. It had been over five years since Terence and I joined the Survey Corps, and it's difficult to even make your first year, let alone five. Even when the crowd leers and jeers, there is still something satisfying about seeing the points and looks of admiration from the children who were too young to understand how much the public hated us. There was always a silver lining to everything.

"Well, I must be off, but before that," the Minute Man pulled a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to Terrence "This is the address of the other group, visit them if you ever get the chance to visit,"

For a few moments, his gaze flickered to me and made me squirm back into the wall.

"Farewell, Charlotte. Farewell, Terrence,"

And just like that, he vanished.

I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I stood up and rushed over to Terrence and embraced him whilst still silently crying. Every word the Minute Man had said added an extra weight onto my shoulders and chest. The exposure I had felt was still raw and had numbed me all over.

"I hate him," I whispered into Terrence's ear

"I know," he whispered back

We stayed in each other's arms for about ten minutes in complete silence. Everything we wanted to say to each other had been jumbled in our brains and we could not properly explain our thoughts without forgetting how to talk. His words had made our judgement cloudy and had created this numb raw feeling that feels so bare and horrid.

I had forgotten about the reports. All I could think about was the fact that as of now, a load of beings similar to the Minute Man were watching us intently, waiting for our second move.

That scared me more than anything else.

The feeling that eyes were all over the place paralysed me. I couldn't move or talk or walk or properly think. All that was left was this vegetative state of only being able to breathe. Was this his intention? To scare us into ending ourselves?

No. I highly doubted it, but even with the whole 'you've come so far', I couldn't physically move without feeling so…

Then there was bliss.

A sensation suddenly washed over my pathetic being. One of, not forgetting, but of his words having less of an impact. My mind was unravelling and started thinking coherently. My limbs gained feeling to them and I was no longer crying myself silly. My eyes trailed down to Terrence's hand and caught sight of the paper the Minute Man had handed to him.

"What does the paper say?" I asked

Terrence opened up the note which read:

 _The Tea Cosy,_

 _Hatter's street,_

 _Mitras._

It was the address of the two others we had yet to meet.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this chapter. I know it's a bit short (for me), but I have just finished my exams, but I'm still in school doing work for next years' exams and there is a lot of it.

Anyway, Levi et al will possibly be introduced in the next chapter, if not, the chapter after that. I'm sorry if I got Erwin's character wrong and any comments or criticism are welcome.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ok, so where do you think our files are?" I asked Terrence as we walked down the cold stony corridor towards our dorms

Terrence shrugged as he pulled his arms tightly around his chest to keep the midwinter chills from going down to the bone.

"They could be anywhere, but we should check our dorms first. If they're not in there, I imagine that they have either been destroyed or put into Erwin's office, so that our lie falls apart," Terrence whispered the second part

I winced at the thought of our lie falling apart. If that were to happen, God knows how Erwin would react or how we could get out of it. Our lie was a lucky shot in the dark and it worked, but that doesn't guarantee that the next time we get into shit, we'll be ok.

If the Minute Man interfered with our lives again or one of us managed to fuck up, I'm scared to think about what would happen. I mean, we don't have a Doctor Who like figure to look after us and help get us out of difficult situations. All we have is our bond of friendship and training to help us get by.

The sensation of being watched had become so minimal, that I barely thought about it. One would probably expect for me to fly off the handle and get a sense of paranoia every time I moved a limb, yet I felt nothing. Perhaps it was something in the technology being used that made me not care. Maybe some form of opioid that had somehow been introduced to my body or maybe I had been hypnotised to not care about being watched. Either way, I didn't care.

What I did care about was getting the reports onto Erwin's desk to prevent us from being verbally assaulted by Shadis and Erwin.

Once we were at the fork in the corridor, we both stopped.

"Right, so we'll check our rooms and if they're not in there, then we'll try the common room," Terrence said

I nodded in agreement.

"I'll catch you later," I said as I turned heel and went left to the girl's dormitories.

This time, I went into a different room with only four beds inside, especially given to those who have served for over two years. It would only be if I did something truly amazing that I would be given my own room which admittedly ticked me off as privacy is something I only get if I'm showering or going to the toilet, so my own space would bring some form of peace of mind and order.

Upon entering the room, I noticed how slightly disorderly everything looked. The girls I shared a room with were lovely, don't get me wrong, but they were ever so messy since the Survey Corps don't really bother with room inspections like the Training Corps did.

I would never describe myself as an orderly person. Ever. But I do like aesthetically pleasing living space and I think that overrules everything. That's not to say I don't have empty bottles of alcohol or dirty clothes shoved into drawers or under my bed, which I do. I just don't like the dirty clothes or rubbish on the floor surrounding my area, like the other girls in my room seem to.

I walked over to my neatly made bed in the right corner by the window and knelt down on the cold stone flooring and peered under my bed before grabbing my bag that contained all of my belongings from Shanghai and pulled it out.

I quickly pulled out the skirt and tights I had remembered to pack as well as my books, phone, laptop, and other bits and pieces before realising the documents were nowhere to be found.

"Shit," I muttered to myself as I quickly shoved everything back into my bag before shoving my bag back under whilst hearing a few bottles crash into each other. Not enough to smash into millions of pieces, but enough to make a lot of noise.

I huffed before getting to my feet.

Before I could do anything else, I noticed something on my bed.

Could it be?

YES IT FUCKING WELL COULD!

My report. All two sides of parchment lying on my bed!

I wasn't going to question how it got there as all I knew was the Minute Man had something to do with it and that was all I needed to know. There were already too many questions that the Minute Man had set in my mind, but I had to focus on my present situation than worry about what 'he' was up to.

Never before had I felt so glad to see the drab looking paper with equally depressing contents in all of my time here. I quickly snatched it up and scanned the contents before letting out a squeal of delight before running out of my dorm, only to run into a hard, solid object and fall back.

"Ungh?" I said unintelligently as I fell onto my backside, only to be pulled to my feet by familiar strong arms.

"Sorry, you found the report?" he asked

I held up the pieces of parchment triumphantly.

"Awesome, let's get these bad boys to Erwin," Terrence said before tugging me by the arm down the twisting corridor to Erwin's office.

The entire journey was silent with only the violent wintery wind raging against the castle walls echoing through the cracks and our storming boot clad feet hitting the polished wood flooring. Every twist and turn in the corridor was met with another empty doorway as the lecture was still taking place and the squad leaders that didn't need to be in the lecture was collecting squad reports and readying them to send in whilst sneaking in a swig of whiskey every once in a while to dull the pain that came with the blow of the last mission.

Thankfully, new recruits were coming in soon, of course, not many would be coming in to the Survey Corps, but over five years in here had taught me how much one life truly means.

Once we got to Erwin's office, Terrence knocked on the door.

"Enter," came the muffled voice

Terrence pushed the door open and we both stepped in.

"Hill, Baker. Take a seat," Erwin said as he gestured his head for us to sit down opposite him

Terrence and I took our seats in front of him before sliding our reports on the desk before him. Erwin glanced at them before looking back up at us.

"Now, before we discuss your reports, I want to discuss something with you two about your past training,"

Oh God, not this again.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm down my racing heart. I didn't want to have to lie again and make things up, but it seemed that Terrence and I had no choice. Just because we were good at it and it brought an adrenaline high, that doesn't necessarily mean I enjoy it.

"And what would that be?" I asked without a waver in my voice

Erwin glanced between Terrence and I and… smirked? I've never really seen happiness as an emotion I associated with Erwin.

"I have a proposition for you two. You are free to decline and not have to face punishment, but I will reward you for your efforts if you do decide to go through with this," Erwin started

Terrence and I inched closer, as we both seemed to know what he was going to ask us to do. Something I was going to turn my back on for good reason but still slightly missed. I mean, he just said 'past training' followed by 'proposition', any idiot can put two and two together to know what he was going to say next.

"In the royal capital, there is a hidden underground city built long ago as a safety precaution in case titans got through the walls. Now, this particular city is home to a multitude of criminal organisations but there is one group that has piqued my interest for a while as rumour has it that they have been sent to kill me,"

My eyes widened.

"By who?" I asked

"Nikolas Lobov. You two have probably heard about his attempts to shut the Survey Corps down to no avail. So he believes that sending these criminals to kill me will end the Survey Corps once and for all,"

"Now, my proposition: I want you two to keep an eye on this group, don't get too close, but observe them and I want you two to make the judgment call as to when we strike,"

"Strike?" Terrence asked

"We will make join the Survey Corps, where you two will keep a further eye on them. However, since you will be working for me, I want you two to join my squad and keep an eye on them from afar as they will be put into Flagon's squad,"

For a moment, I thought I was going to scream in delight. It was basically a promotion as everyone knows that Erwin is next in line to be commander and that those in his squad are some of the most talented soldiers in the Corps. And he was asking us to join him.

The mission he was giving us also sounded… amazing. I could already feel the adrenaline rush pumping around my body, making me shake with excitement and I loved it. Hopefully this time, I won't be anywhere near a brothel, but one cannot be too sure.

"I will have to convince Flagon to let you two go as he seems very much attached to you two and doesn't hesitate to sing your praises,"

Terrence and I were internally screaming at this point. I knew Flagon liked to boast about having us in his squad, but he boasted to Erwin about us? And Erwin actually wanted us to do a mission for him and spy on a criminal organisation for him and send off information to him? This was the dream. It wasn't exactly getting sent back to the 21st century dream, but it was some form of hope.

"Once I have permission from Flagon, you two will start training with my squad and for one week per month, you will be going down into the Underground and keeping an eye on the group. Now, I do expect you to sleep down there for the whole week, but in return, I will give you three days' rest in the capital, all expenses paid for you. Do you consent?" Erwin explained

I've had to stay in some shitholes on missions back in the day, so the underground couldn't be too bad, right? Even then, three day's rest in the Capital would be awesome as we could possibly find out who our teashop owners are and gain connections from there.

I nodded and smiled.

"I'm in," I replied

"I'm in too," Terrence said with a wide grin on his face

Erwin seemed pleased with himself as he straightened his back.

"Now that's sorted, I want to discuss the supposed nature of the group you will be observing. From speculation, I've come to the conclusion Lobov has hired a notorious criminal that goes by the name of 'Levi' and is often seen with two other people: A brown haired male and a red haired female, as well as others that are part of his group, yet those two are closely affiliated. I trust if you ask around, you will find them, but keep your distance and blend in, those are my only orders for the mission, but we will speak more about it closer to the time, understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" Terrence and I responded in unison

"Good, now don't speak a word of this conversation to anyone else, this is strictly business between you and my squad and I. You two are dismissed for an early lunch,"

"Thank you, Sir," We replied before standing up and leaving the room

Once we had left the room, we walked in the direction of the dining hall, all the while chatting excitedly about the promotion. We weren't stupid enough to run our mouths about a mission where anyone could possibly hear us. Instead, we let ourselves relax.

It was too cold for training and Christmas was fast approaching, meaning that everyone was to relax until the New Year. Of course, we still had to do things like cleaning, chopping wood for the fire, and helping to plan with the next mission just to name a few. However, it was a bad idea to go out in a snow storm in mid-winter, so we were allowed more days off to swan off into the closest town or visit family for a few days. Then once it hits 1st January, its back to training.

Once we got to the mess hall, we were served a warm and thick soup with a large wholemeal bread roll, a baked potato, a side plate of rice, and a rarity: a rock cake.

Around Christmas, we get a bit more funding from generous sponsors, so we can afford to make 'delicacies' like rock cakes, even if they are slightly burnt and hard, it was comforting to know that even if we were titan fodder, we were still worthy to have indulgences every once in a while.

Yet at the back of my mind, I was wallowing in self-pity. Back in SOSO where we were able to cater for ourselves in the shared apartment or eat in the dining hall if we couldn't be asked to cook anything (or special occasions), I would have felt extremely underwhelmed and slightly insulted if I were to be given a rock cake. Even the meal before me of mostly carbohydrates and no meat would make me question the sanity of whoever made up the meal.

How times change.

Once Terrence and I had made our way to our usual table near the centre of the room, we sat down and started to tuck into our piping hot meal.

The soup had been thickened with flour, yet not properly as there were still clumps of flour lurking along the base of the bowl, giving it a slightly lumpy wallpaper paste texture. The rice was slightly overcooked and was lumpy and honestly, a bit nauseating. The potato was slightly undercooked with a tepid centre. The roll was doughy and needed around ten more minutes in the oven. And the rock cake lived up a bit too well to its namesake as it took quite a while to find a way to sink my teeth into its warm, scone-like goodness.

All in all, a decent meal with very little complaints.

Of course, I did indulge if I ever got chance to go into town and occasionally bought myself something from the bakery to tame my sweet tooth. But this was… I don't know how to describe the feeling, but warming with hints of nostalgia and melancholy would be one way of putting it.

Although the excitement of being put into a new squad with a mission was heavy in our minds, the one topic we had to talk about with no one else around was of course the others in the capital with the tea shop.

"I can't believe after all this time there were others," I found myself murmuring as I gnawed on the outside of the rock cake

"I know. It's really fucking weird that after eight, nearly nine years of being here, we hadn't known of their existence until now,"

"When the Minute Man 'oh-so-kindly' decided to tell us that there were people like us in the capital owning a fucking tea shop," I muttered hotly as I fumbled with the scrap of paper with their address scrawled on it

Terrence clasped his hands and thought for a minute.

"You think we should find them after our mission in the Capital?" he asked

I nodded

"Of course. We have three days to find them, talk to them, and create a link in the Capital. Even if Erwin will pay our expenses, we'll just say I found out about some distant relatives who insist on paying for us, meaning we save the Survey Corps a bit of extra money,"

"Good plan," Terrence said before taking a chunk from his rock cake

I noticed movement from the corner of my eye and quickly shoved the paper in my pocket before looking over to the door to the mess hall, only to see countless amounts of cadets' pile in and gawp at today's lunch. The intense look of surprise at the rock cakes sent a tight smile to my lips. They worked hard and deserved a small treat and rest before the start of the New Year. Obviously, they deserved more than an extra half an hour in bed and an undercooked rock cake, but it's the small things you really start to appreciate when you live in a world of shit.

"Look, they have rock cakes! My mum used to make these when I was a kid!" one cadet jabbered to his friend

"I call on the crustiest one!" another yelled

"I want the one with the most raisins!" another cried

It was in that moment, we saw the various teenagers acting younger than their age, but still catching up with their youth. It's no secret that some of these kids come from rough backgrounds and have come here as a form of escape and a chance to fight for what they believe is right, so seeing them now turn from titan fodder to children at the dimmest glimmer of luxury was heart-warming, but at the same time, five years has taught me that a lot of them will die, which really fucking sucks.

In these moments, all you can do is passively observe and cherish the moment.

The bright mood created by these kids (and some of the adults) made it easy to just relax a bit. Sam, the youngest member of Flagon's squad came and sat next to us, beaming brightly as he gazed at his rock cake.

"Can you guys believe we get rock cakes today?" he jabbered excitedly like a five year old showing off a new toy

"I know, it's pretty cool, eh?" Terrence replied

"It's honestly been so long since I've had one. I think it's been three years," he said as he seemed to skip the courses and go straight for the rock cake. The sound of teeth hitting the hard surface of the cake made me wince slightly, yet he didn't seem to mind it.

As Sam gnawed happily on his rock cake, I noticed Erwin's squad coming into the dining hall and going to the back of the queue whilst chatting lightly with each other. Except for Mike, who was notorious for not saying much but having amazing technique in the field. That and his sense of smell was impeccable. According to rumour, he could smell a titan from miles away, that's how Erwin's squad has survived for so long.

I had to admit to having a slight crush on the guy. Even if he was slightly weird and around nine or ten years older than me, I couldn't help but feel a bit flustered every time I saw him and I sometimes couldn't help but imagine different scenarios in my head about interacting with him, but alas, he probably wasn't interested in me. After all, I still look like a teenager, despite the fact I'm approaching my twenty ninth birthday. Every woman's dream, right?

Terrence noticed my gaze and sniggered. Since we're closer than close best friends, I may have told him about my crush on the guy, much to his amusement, before proceeding to mock his height and his social inability to hold a long conversation. Plus he claimed that Mike went behind him in the showers and took a long sniff of his neck. After telling the story, Terrence started sniffing my neck in the same manner before exclaiming: 'You smell like horses and desperation', causing me to hit him several times.

"If only he knew," Terrence sighed

"Who?" Sam asked

I went slightly pink around the cheeks.

"It doesn't matter," I replied quietly

Terrence laughed some more whilst clapping his hands together like a seal on ketamine, causing me to fall into a fit of splutters at Terrence's odd impression. He had probably thought of something really disgusting and crude (which is what makes up a majority of our jokes). That o he realised I might be a bit of a mess working with someone I had a slight crush on. Ok, maybe not slight, but it wasn't like Terrence's obsession with Ariana Grande.

Just then, the girl from Erwin's squad, Maisie, made eye contact with me and smiled. That was odd. I've never really interacted with her except the occasional 'Hiya' in the corridor or 'you did well' after a mission. Did she know? Possibly, yet I wasn't going to approach her about it. Not until Erwin made it official that we were in the squad.

After we finished lunch, we got up and put our trays on the side before walking out of the lunch hall. Due to the fact that we didn't have anything else to do for the rest of the day thanks to the freezing and icy weather conditions making it too dangerous to train and Flagon hadn't assigned us to cleaning duty or filing some of his reports, we had the rest of the day to potter about and maybe chill out in the common room.

On days when we have nothing else to do, we are allowed to change into civilian clothing which was often a relief as the 3DMG belts are compulsory parts of the uniform and I often find that the belts have a habit of digging into my skin and irritating me as the day goes on.

"I wish everyday was like this," Terrence sighed

"What, having your superior given your letter of resignation by a creep in a suit before finding out that every move we make is possibly being watched by a huge audience is something you'd want to live through again?" I asked jovially

Terrence tutted.

"No, I mean a relaxing day where we don't have to worry about the next expedition or training. I know it's something that we signed up for and were more or less made to do, but I like having a break once in a while," Terrence's face then lit up like a child in a sweet shop "Hey, why don't we get some of that special tea you made last year and make a blanket fort in the common room?"

I felt a smile tug on my lips and I nodded.

"I'd love to!"

The tea in question wasn't one that I had brewed and left for a year, but I assembled the tea leafs and spices off the market to make something similar to a chai. Although we had to drink it black thanks to the abundance of milk on the market, it was still comforting to drink in the winter.

Once we made it into the common room, I gave Terrence the key to my dorm, knowing that the other girls wouldn't be in there plus I was too lazy to go back down to the kitchen to make the tea myself.

"Really?" he asked

I nodded.

"I'll make the fort," I replied sweetly with an equally sugared grin to which Terrence responded by huffing and nabbing the key off me

"You know I still love you!" I called after him

"Fuck you!" he responded

I waved him off before walking over to the cupboard that held all of the extra pillows, blankets, and bedsheets (titans, gore, death of friends, and lack of support from family, among other factors has the chance of causing PTSD, which in turn can lead to nocturnal urination) before taking out a generous amount of pillows and blankets and throwing them onto the sofa. I then went over to the table and wooden stools in the corner of the room and took two of the stools and brought them over to the sofa.

As I was doing this, I started humming along to a tune that could only be found on Terrence's playlist as it was from a few years after my 'death'. I couldn't place words to the tune, but I remembered something about pineapples being mentioned throughout the song. Strange but catchy, I swayed as I hummed and brought the stools over to the sofa and waved out the folded blankets before throwing it over the sofa and stools. I then added an extra layer over the previous blanket before going under the structure whilst still humming and started arranging the pillows into a comfy position.

Once that was all done, I made myself comfortable under the structure and waited patiently for Terrence to come back with the tea.

I grabbed a blanket and surrounded myself with mounds of pillows, letting myself get cosy in my cocoon.

It wasn't long until I heard Terrence's gait come close to the structure in the middle of the room before peering in to the fortress of pillows and blankets, holding two steaming mugs of spiced tea that smelt so strongly yet so pleasantly.

"Oi, budge over," he said as he made his way in passing me a mug

I shuffled over and let him take a seat next to me.

For a while, we sat in complete silence, with the mugs of chai and warm blankets keeping us in a comfortable silence that didn't need to be broken by idle conversation. I rest my head against Terrence's shoulder and sighed contently as I snuggled deeper into the blankets. I wanted to stay like that forever, no titans or other people, just me and Terrence, and maybe, just maybe, I might invite Mike into our fortress if I feel like it. That was a fantasy that would never come true.

"God, I feel like such a kid," Terrence murmured

"Same," I felt a melancholic smile make its way onto my lips "My brother and I used to make blanket forts in the living room when my dad wasn't at home. We'd watch cartoons with a box of cereal between us and a mug of hot chocolate. When dad got home, he'd join us in the fort and watch cartoons with us,"

Terrence wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it slightly.

"That sounds like heaven," he whispered

"Yeah, it was," I whispered as I felt tears sting my eyes

My brother was around eleven years older than me and back in the day, I remember thinking he was the coolest guy to grace the face of the earth because he would happily sit and watch cartoons with me and help me with my homework and even explain his homework in a way I could somewhat grasp. Yet he wasn't. In fact, he was an outcast, not so much a victim of bullying, more not really being able to spend time with people his age. It's actually sad thinking back to it that my father and I were the closest thing he had to friends.

That's why it shocked me when he left to travel the world without me and my father.

I remember sobbing my heart out when he didn't come and help me after I was placed into care. He was supposed to always be there for me, yet he wasn't there when I needed him the most.

I guess it's understandable. I mean, my father started showing subtle signs of Alzheimer's when I was around three years old, but it wasn't until I was eight, when he accidently set the house ablaze that both my father and I were put into care and I was put later into the hands of SOSO.

I've always wondered about what happened to him as he went silent after he got on his first plane to Delhi. Around the time I was sixteen, and I had come to terms with the fact that my father was not getting better, I used all of SOSO's resources to track my brother down, yet the furthest I ever got was a plane ticket from China to a small remote island off Thailand that was run by some dictator that nobody really cared about, the trail runs cold after he arrived there, one hundred and seven days after he first left us.

It's strange how comforting situations like lying comfortably in a pillow fort with your best friend can lead to every layer of your emotional well-being getting ripped from you as these memories surface.

I was about to open my mouth to have a long winded heart to heart with Terrence about something he had heard many times in both the Training Corps and here, when a face peaked through the entrance to the fortress. That face belonging to Masie of Erwin's squad.

"Oh, do you mind if I join you?" she asked as I quickly detangled myself from Terrence

"Sure," Terrence replied

Maisie came in and sat across from both of us, giving both Terrence and I a warm smile.

"So, Erwin told us that you two are definitely joining the squad and joining us on the Underground mission, pretty cool, eh?" she said with the excitement of a Labrador puppy

My eyes widened and I sat up straight.

"We are?" I asked

"Yup, but don't tell Erwin I told you because he still hasn't told Flagon or you," she said

"So, how is it official if Flagon doesn't know or approve?" Terrence asked

Maisie giggled

"Erwin got Shadis to agree," she replied simply

I sat up straight, all wallowing left from years ago had drained since Maisie entered to fortress. Getting Shadis to agree meant Flagon was going to be doubly pissed as it wasn't him that signed us off.

"No fucking way!" Terrence gasped

"I know, right? Erwin will be talking to the two of you in the next couple of days to settle this properly, so before that, how about we get to know each other? I mean, we'll be in a squad together and I am second in command, meaning I have the next most authority to Erwin, meaning, I want to get to know the two of you properly," gosh, she reminded me of the weird kid in the other squad with the obsession with befriending and studying the titans. The amount of enthusiasm was uncanny.

So for the next hour, we learnt all about Erwin's squad and about Maisie herself. I got to ask questions about Mike and working in the squad and Maisie gushed about Erwin and told us her family history in return.

Yet all of it was useful. The more we trust, the better we work together, the quicker we get rid of the titans.

…..Three weeks later…..

The carriage jutted and bounced over every uneven cobble as the horses trotted at a fast pace through the streets of the Capital.

Every landscape of the city outside the window looked like something out of a Dickens novel as the snow had dusted every surface of the ground and everyone was dressed so smartly in period clothing. Yet Terrence and I had not been graced with the luxury of pretty period clothing.

Instead, we were dressed in cheap gaudy clothing that would help us to blend into the Underground society. Unfortunately, that meant dressing me in a slightly provocative manner and having Terrence be my pimp. Thankfully, this wasn't like Shanghai and I wouldn't have to 'lie back and think of my nation', yet there was something sickly about taking up the role of a prostitute. Again.

The task was simple. Observe and write down any habits or traits we notice about him that might help us to capture him and drag him and his mates to the Survey Corps. Also, we had to keep a keen eye on anyone associated with Lobov making contact with this Levi bloke.

Erwin had gone through the plan so many times that it had been drilled in. Stay for a week Underground. Stay close to Levi for as long as possible. Look out for Lobov. Assess his talents. Et cetera, et cetera.

Once the carriage stopped, I gave Terrence's hand a quick squeeze as we got out and handed the driver the money as we looked down at the entrance to the Underground city.

"You ready?" Terrence asked

I gulped in one last breath of fresh air.

"Ready" I replied as I stepped forward into the doorway, engulfing myself in darkness.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated and it's not the best of updates, but this is the ball rolling chapter and the next will DEFINITLY have Levi in it.

School is starting to get in the way of everything (as it does) and due to the fact it's my last year of sixth form, I'm having to do all of this coursework, revision, personal statement, as well as find time to sleep and relax.

If you have any comments or criticisms, you are always welcome!

(Btw, the song Charlotte was humming to herself whilst making the fort was Pork Soda by Glass Animals, just in case any of you were wondering!).


	9. Chapter 9

The first thing that hit me after stepping into the darkness was the smell. The smell made me shut my eyes and scrunch up my nose in disgust as I felt sudden waves of nausea hit me. It was like walking into a septic tank with the amount of shit vapour that went into my nose and caused another dry heave.

"Ugh, this is fuckin' rank," Terrence cursed as he brought his hand to his nose

"We'll get used to the smell soon," I murmured as I gritted my teeth and allowed for my mouth to swill with saliva before turning my head and spitting

"Lovely," Terrence muttered before doing the same thing

I then bit the inside of my cheek as I interlinked my arms with Terrence as we descended down the stairs. From where we were, I could see pretty much the entire city all lit up like a Christmas tree, except it was like the deprived inner city, notorious for its poverty and gang activities, something I had dealt with before, but the rush and smell made me feel slightly dizzy.

"Ok, so first we find this 'Levi' bloke, then we observe, then we find somewhere to chill out and have a drink and something to eat," I said in order to stop me from thinking too much about the damn smell

"Don't forget a place to stay for the next few days," Terrence reminded

"And a place to stay that isn't a street alley," I replied

"There's bound to be inns or somethin' around,"

On that note, we had reached the bottom of the stairs and walked straight past the person at the toll. Looking around, I realised how much Terrence and I still stuck out, like Trost all over again. This time, I was dressed the part, but due to the lack of nutrition and sunlight, pretty much everyone here was a good few inches shorter than me and Terrence, was the 6'7 giant that stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Fuck me sideways, why do we have to be so ridiculously tall?" I muttered to myself as I noticed someone tilt their head in my direction and give a nod

"Because DNA or some shit," Terrence mused making me chuckle slightly

We scanned our surrounding area and saw so many people, but not 'Levi'. We couldn't ask around as that could alert him of our presence. So it was more of a game of one sided hide and seek. Some sources that Erwin had given us gave us his address, meaning that that was going to be one of the places we would spend a load of time around.

As we walked through the stinking crowded streets, I couldn't help but occasionally gaze to the side of the street and spot a small, feeble looking child with sunken cheeks nibbling on his fingernails which had turned to bloody stumps from the gnawing of his teeth making me quickly avert my eyes at the horrid sight.

"Change, miss. Spare change, miss," said a weak voice from the side

"I swear, I din't nick anyfink!" cried a small boy to a slightly taller man with his hand around the boy's neck. Since neither Terrence nor I wanted to draw attention to ourselves, we walked past the boy being beaten as if we hadn't seen anything.

That was a painful part of the job. Pretending not to see clear abuse unless it's justified, and in this case, this was how justice was served in a place so lacking.

As Terrence and I walked, we checked out all of the street signs in hope of finding Levi's place. Once we did that, we'd be able to see if he was home and if not, search the place. If he was in, we'd have to make up a bullshit excuse just to check this was his place, then we'd be able to properly keep tabs on him. Unfortunately, we don't have cameras or listening devices that we could use to observe them from afar. I mean, we both had our phones, but they aren't as small as the listening devices and much more noticeable than the cameras we had. So it was down to good old fashioned spying through the windows and tailing the group.

"God it's depressin' down here," Terrence murmured

"I've seen better places in my life," I replied as I kept my eyes from pitying the side of the road.

"It's like Dickinsville or somethin'" to which I agreed. There was something about the old fashioned, slightly Victorian clothing mixed in with the slums that brought the place a cold and hostile atmosphere. Everywhere we passed, there was a fight or struggle or something going on. There were vast amounts of whorehouses lining the streets with girls poking their heads out of their windows and beckoning passers-by. All of the prostitutes were either malnourished, looking like they were wasting away or they were unable to fit themselves into their bodices as they had been very well fed. There was no in between and this was how I could tell the successful prostitutes from the not so received ones.

God help me if I were to have to walk into one of these places again.

At the very end of the street, I recognised the street sign that matched the address Erwin gave us. Finally.

Our pace changed as we turned off the main road and onto the side street as we were no longer caught up in the crowds. I quickly glanced behind us to check we weren't being followed before carrying onwards towards the house. Number 11. That's what the sheet of paper said anyway.

Just then, I noticed two Military Police walking in our direction. Nothing to worry about, I know. But there was always the small chance they could recognise us from training. From my understanding, the lower down you were, the more likely it was to get a shitty job like patrolling the Underground, meaning that most of the people that decided on the Military Police option would be slightly above Underground level.

The two MP's gave us a quick glance before continuing to walk along, paying little heed to us. Some idiot inside of me wanted them to recognize me or Terence for just a split second. To question us like Erwin had. Maybe if their gazes lingered on us for just a couple of seconds, maybe then, they may have recognized our faces from somewhere. Maybe before a mission, maybe from out and about. Who knows?

It was a stupid thought, I know. But there was something about the danger of being a spy that sent a thrill and pump of adrenalin around my body. Of course, I knew we'd be relatively safe if we were pulled over (the trick was I would do a gruff sounding American accent that I kept hearing) and my weaselling out of shit skills were good and. It was that knowledge in my safety that made me want to get pulled over.

"Here on the right," Terrence muttered to me

The plan was to knock and see if anyone was in.

If they were, we'd just say: 'Sorry, wrong house' and walk off before waiting for a chance to sneak in.

If no one did answer and it looked like nobody was in, then we go in and snoop around. Collect as much information as we could about him. Pressure points, weapons, deals, whatever dirt we could pick up that may help the squad in catching him.

Another plus side was that there was an inn parallel to the house meaning we could sit from our room and watch the comings and goings of the house, well what we could see from our window. Thankfully, Erwin had been able to secure the room that we needed, no questions asked.

"You ready?" I asked

Terrence nodded.

"Yup,"

We walked up the steps to the house and looked behind us to make sure there was no one there before Terrence brought a large fist to the door and sharply knocked.

All the lights were off in the house, meaning they were out or it was a lie in. Yet Levi was known for being active in the streets at this time of day, so it couldn't have been the latter. I quickly pulled out a hair grip and straightened it out as Terrence checked under the mat and in the torch holder outside the house.

Of course there wouldn't be a spare key, but it was always good to check.

"I still got it," I hummed as I put the grip into the lock and pushed it to the side, bending it slightly before pushing it down and turning the handle to the right. I then started pushing the pins in the lock upwards in order to-

"There!" I whispered as the door opened

"You're such a cliché," Terrence muttered as he walked through the door

"You're such a cliché," I mimicked with my tongue sticking out

Once we were in, I took the pin out of the lock and closed the door behind me, engulfing us in darkness with the only light coming from the streetlamps outside. I put my hand down my cleavage and pulled out my phone and turned on the torch.

The interior was surprisingly tidy and had a very slight aroma of tea and flowers. Not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of a 'dangerous thug' living below the poverty line. I walked over to a set of drawers and opened it up.

It was full of letters and bills of little importance. Running water was one of the last things I thought they would have down here but alas, whatever trickled down sewage water they got may have been cleaned. Who knows?

I turned the bills over, making sure there weren't any jottings down. Nothing.

I neatly placed the bills back into its drawer before opening the next drawer down.

I could tell straight away there was something of interest in that particular drawer as there was a scrape of metal on wood as soon as I opened it.

"Oh?" I murmured as I put my phone onto camera and took a quick picture of the drawer.

It was more or less empty save for the knife that was in there. Nothing fancy, but it was certainly not what I wold be using to cut my bread with or butter my toast. It was the type you'd find used for self-defence in someone's back pocket. Small, light, sharp. Perfect.

"You got anything?" I called over

"Letters from Lobov," Terrence responded

"Nice,"

I walked over to the settee and checked down the nooks and crannies for anything. Save for a couple of bronze coins. Nothing of interest.

I stood back up and snapped a picture of the open space living room/dining room before walking past Terrence in the kitchen to one of the other rooms.

The bathroom.

I snapped a quick picture of it before getting on my hands and knees and looking under the bath tub. A small bag caught my eye and I pulled it towards me. Heavy and metallic sounds were emitted meaning it was a bag of coins. Whether it be for a deal or from a deal or whatever, I pushed it back under the bath, knowing it would be of little use.

I exited and saw that Terrence was in the room immediately to my left, so I went right and looked inside.

I saw immediately it was a girls' room due to the amount of (rather low quality) hair products and rather feminine clothing poking out from under the bed.

I walked over to the side table and pulled out the first drawer.

Nothing of interest. Just underwear. Even pawing through, I couldn't seem to find anything of interest. The rest of the drawers were just as interesting. Clothes, drawings of a happy family (Levi and a guy called 'Furlan'), and empty alcohol bottles.

Under the bed mostly consisted of dirty clothes and dust bunnies. Great.

I then started pushing down on the floorboards, seeing if any of them were hollowed out to fit anything inside. A gun, more letters, a timetable, a diary, nothing. All of the floorboards I checked were secure.

The wardrobe was the next thing on my 'to check list'.

Several clothing items were hanging up which were extremely drab and definitely not something I'd want to be caught dead in. As bitchy as it sounds, I used to go fashion police on anyone's house I checked. It's a way of keeping me entertained and my mind off the fact that anytime now, the crew could walk through the door, realise it's not locked and search the place from top to bottom looking for a culprit.

The wardrobe held a few 'treasures'.

A gun, A knife, a rather large bag of coins and a fucking journal hidden in the corner right at the bottom.

I quickly scanned the last entry and it was yesterday's date and started last year. Sadly, whoever wrote this seemed to be almost Charlie Kelly level illiterate as the words looked like they had been scrawled by a five year old with a few pictures thrown in as hieroglyphic symbols in a way I interpreted as not knowing how to 'spell' a word properly.

Whoever this girl was, she wasn't in the group for her book smarts. Adopted sister? Maybe. Street smarts and brawn? Unlikely for the latter as Levi was known to be quite the little fighter.

I quickly scrolled through the book and snapped pictures of each different day and being as quick as I could about it.

It was when I was ¾ of the way through that Terrence bolted into the room I was in, slamming the door shut, and opening the window behind me.

"They're back," he said quickly before climbing out of the window

"Shit!" I hissed before placing the book back in its place and hearing the front door squeak open. As silently as I could, I closed the wardrobe and motioned to Terrence to push the window shut. I wasn't going to be able to get out the window in this dress and not possibly getting caught on the hook or ledge.

I quickly got on my hands and knees before pushing myself soundlessly under.

All in good time because as soon as Terrence had pushed the window closed and I had secured myself under the bed, the sound of multiple footsteps thundered over to the room I was hiding in and slammed the door open.

My heartbeat was sounding in my ears as adrenaline pumped around my body.

This was it. The high I had been looking for.

"Where do you think they are?" A feminine voice asked

"By the looks of it, long gone," A male voice chimed in as he walked into the room and over to the window

"Look around. Make sure they haven't taken anything, or even better if they didn't make their escape. If you two find anyone, bring them straight to me. Understood?"

"Yes Levi!" the two responded

The voice of Levi was different to how I imagined it. From his description of being a short male, I initially assumed it was because he was still waiting for his growth spurt and puberty to hit, but alas, his voice was smooth, slightly rough around the edges but definitely not childlike with voice breaks. He was fully grown.

Damn. Until I knew they were definitely out, there was little chance I'd be able to get out.

Levi and Farlan (I assumed) had since exited to poke around the other rooms whilst the girl remained in the room seemingly looking around for whoever broke in. Thank God she didn't have anything important under here or else I might be…

Oh shit.

What if she was going to look?

She walked over to her wardrobe and flung it open, checking for anything that could have been left behind meaning, my spot might be next.

I held my hand to my mouth and waited for her to be done with checking the wardrobe when I heard a rather beautiful sound.

A knock o the door. A sharp hard knock.

Like how Terrence knocks.

"Isobel?" Levi called

The girl, Isobel fumbled through the wardrobe and pulled out a knife before walking out of the room to the front door.

I could have kissed Terrence in that moment.

Once I was sure Isobel was out of the room, I started slowly crawling out from my hiding spot, quickly glancing outside the door to see all three of them by the door with Terrence in the doorway who could easily peer over to see me in the doorway giving him a quick nod.

"What is it?" Levi asked

Terrence spoke in his normal Scottish accent which seemed to be played up and slurred slightly. I would assume sounded like a farmer's accent to them. Something that drawled and sounded uneducated.

"Well I was in me room at the inn when I noticed yer lovely house had been broken into," Terrence said in mock anguish as I opened the window

"How did you know it had been broken into?" Levi asked sharply

"Well ye see, me wee laddie. I was simply looking out of me window when I saw two people at the front door and I thought, 'Ah what a nice way to end the day, have a wander then go into yer nice warm house and have some wee biccies by the fireplace with a lovely hot brew', so-"

"What the fuck are you on?" Levi snarled

"Ah calm down, laddie, let me tell me story. Where was I? Ah!"

By this time I had been able to crawl out of the window and quickly close it. I gave Terrence the thumbs up and got onto all fours just in case.

I got from the window to the area by the front door, passing by windows that had yet to be opened and got as close as I could to Terrence and Levi without being seen.

"So as soon as I saw those wee rascals, I thought, 'Oh no, those poor people need to know that some kids had broken in and maybe stolen something! I'm sorry I didn't jump in to action sooner but I-"

"Forget it. The people that broke in, you think they were children?" Farlan piped

"No doubt. Skinny wee creatures. I couldn't see their faces, mind ye," Terrence replied

"Um, thank you anyway for telling us," Farlan responded

"Alright I'll-" The door slammed on Terrence's face.

We weren't entirely out of the woodwork yet. Terrence gave me a universal signal to wait and pointed up at the inn, specifically, the room we requested. To which I understood as: 'they might be watching, I'll check in and the signal will be when I appear at the window. Once I do, it's safe.'

I responded with a nod and watched as Terrence made his way over to the inn. I kept looking behind me to make sure none of the windows had been opened. It must have been odd for them to see a pimp at their door talking like a fucking farmer, but then again, they don't know what could have happened up top. Maybe he was a farmer by day, pimp by night and did his trade below the city?

God only knows.

I looked back at the inn and saw Terrence was nowhere in sight, meaning he was now in there, meaning I'd be in there soon.

I kept beady eye on the window and it was bliss as soon as I saw Terrence's figure stand in the window and give a nod, meaning no one's at the window. The coast is clear.

I walked briskly down the stairs and walked over to the entrance of the inn and quickly into the warm embrace of the smelly establishment.

If the streets had smelt of piss, this was even worse as a loud chorus of drunks seemed to be yelling and pissing themselves at the bar. Obviously too intoxicated to know what they were really doing.

Thankfully the front desk wasn't by the bar as I don't think I'd be able to talk to the innkeeper without being harassed, which I honestly wasn't in the mood for. My current goal was to get in the room, look through the photos, glance out the window occasionally and get some food and drink.

I walked over to the desk where there was a skinny yet grubby looking middle aged man with a very suggestive smile on his face. He probably had a lot of prostitutes walking in and out of this place, so I was probably not an uncommon sight. Probably the amount of cleavage I was showing was what he was smirking at.

"Can I help at all?" the little man asked

"Um yes, I have a reservation for room 15?" I replied

"Yes you do indeed," he said as he flipped through the books and giving my chest an occasional glance

"Looks like your 'friend' has already booked in. Just to warn you in advance, I don't want you disturbing other guests, if you do, I'll have to… punish you,"

The way he said it made my skin crawl and want to beat him to a pulp, yet I kept a smile on my face and even laughed when he said 'punish' as I knew it had disgustingly sexual undertones that made me want to vomit.

I quickly rushed up the stairs and fairly quickly found room 15. Once I got to the door, I quickly knocked and waited for Terrence to open the door. Once he did, I engulfed him in a hug.

"Thank you!" I whispered to him

"Hey, what are friends for? Plus it was fucking hilarious to watch their faces as I did 'me wee skit'," he chuckled into my hair

"It was both brilliant and hilarious," I chimed with a chuckle

I heard the stairs behind me creak, to which I slightly pushed Terrence away and looked to see who it was.

Lucky for me, it was that bloody innkeeper with… a glass in his hand.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

Once he made eye contact with me he smiled that horrid slimy smile which made even Terrence shudder in disgust.

I quickly stepped through the door and closed it behind me, out of sight and (hopefully) earshot of the innkeeper who seemed to have… questionable quirks. Terrence sat down on the double bed he and I were sharing and looked at the door in disgust.

"What a creep," he murmured

"Tell me about it," I replied

I walked over to the window to see that the view we had of Levi's pad was amazing. We were able to see the front door as well as see slightly into the front rooms. One being the sitting area, the other being a bedroom. From our vantage point, we would be able to see all of the comings and goings without getting too much attention.

"Right," I started as I pulled my phone out

"Time to start swiping through evidence," Terrence responded

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long but I've got exams at the moment and all of this sudden creativity came at a strange time, but hey ho, I'm back!

Next week, I'm up to my eyeballs in exams but after Monday in a week's time, I'm free until August when I get my results and find out if I got in to uni.

Alas, I'm sorry if it's slightly shorter than usual but at least Levi has finalllly been included (9 chapters in in a Levi x OC story).

Thank you o much for the support. You guys rock!

Comments and criticisms are always welcome.


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